


Our Future's Written in the In-Betweens

by theheartofthekoko



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Schitt's Creek AU, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-02-19 13:08:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 52,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22278073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheartofthekoko/pseuds/theheartofthekoko
Summary: Schitt's Creek AUEliot and Margo lose everything, are forced to move to some podunk town, and somehow along the way, gain more than they could have ever imagined.
Relationships: Eliot Waugh & Julia Wicker, Fen/Margo Hanson, Kady Orloff-Diaz/Julia Wicker, Margo Hanson/Alice Quinn, Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh, William "Penny" Adiyodi/Alice Quinn, William "Penny" Adiyodi/Margo Hanson
Comments: 102
Kudos: 69





	1. Our Cup Runneth Over

Margo was seething. All around her, the Department of What the Fuck Ever stole their shit by the armful. The shoe collection she’d carefully cultivated over the years, disappearing pair by pair. All her dresses, her blouses, hell her lingerie, everything. At least they weren’t touching her vibrator collection. She had watched the agent open the chest, turn bright red at the numerous toys hidden within, and felt dark vindication within her at his discomfort.

She was currently loitering near her jewelry cabinet, slipping a bauble here, a jewel there, into her bra every time the agent accompanying her turned his back to give another order. When the agent finally ordered someone to take the rest of her jewelry, Margo couldn’t contain her rage.

“What kind of twat makes it his job to steal from other people?” she demanded, finger prodding into his chest.

“Just doing my job, ma’am.”

“What the fuck ever,” she said, storming away from him, down the stairs she’d soon see for the last time.

Eliot was still where she’d left him, leaning against the fireplace, cigarette dangling in his hand. eyes as dead as she’d ever seen them.

“What are you doing?” Margo hissed as she approached, “help me steal some shit, you twat.”

“What’s the point?” he asked.

“The point,” she responded, “is that this is everything we have, and we need to get as much as we can. We’re in survival mode here.”

In response, Eliot pulled the flask from his hip pocket and took a generous sip. His eyes slipped to the side, still refusing to meet hers. She yanked the cigarette from his other hand and put it out directly on the mantel. It wasn’t their house anymore, so everyone could fucking deal. Margo grabbed Eliot’s free hand and yanked him towards the staircase once more.

“Get your ass up and help me lug my vibrators outside before someone less squeamish gets to them.”

Eliot followed along behind her without a peep.

***

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do,” the man sitting across the desk from Eliot and Margo said.

Eliot couldn’t remember his name. Jon? Kyle? Something forgettable, just like he would be if he wasn’t telling them that their lives were effectively over.

“This is your fault!” Margo accused, whipping her head in his direction.

“It was your idea to hire a finance guy in the first place,” Eliot retorted, but the heat still wasn’t there.

He felt hollowed out, like everything inside him had been scooped out and taken away with all the rest of his carefully cultivated wardrobe. Everything that made up all that Eliot was had left out the front door, leaving this empty husk to be put on display for everyone to see. All he had was the clothes on his back.

Perhaps that was too dramatic. A suitcase full of meticulously selected clothing sat at his feet, but that wasn’t enough—not nearly enough to shore up Eliot into who he was supposed to be.

“You’re the one that picked him!” Margo said.

“Well, you’re the one who—” 

“There is one asset the government has allowed you to retain,” the man said, interrupting their argument.

“What?” Margo demanded.

“A town called Schitt’s Creek.”

***

“I can’t believe you actually bought this dump,” Eliot said.

“God, could you let it go? It was a _joke_.”

Eliot struggled down the paved street, suitcase in tow, glad to be off that damn bus. It had been an experiment in patience to sit for hours on end, crammed into a seat next to Margo as she ranted and raved about everything that had gone wrong. Eliot had just wanted to go to sleep. He still did.

Next to him, Margo had her arm shoved awkwardly through the handle of her suitcase, wheeling it behind her as she struggled to carry her heavy, vibrator-filled chest with both hands.

They were headed straight for the only hotel in this godforsaken town. When they caught sight of it, they both stopped, arguing at an impasse as they took in what would soon be their home, at least for the next few days.

“What kind of rat-infested, even a hick’s worst nightmare hotel is this?” Margo asked.

“Let’s just get this over with,” he said.

With a shower nearly in sight, Eliot finally relented, grabbing one handle of Margo’s chest to swing between them. He wanted to wash that bus off his skin, get into a bed, and forget this day ever existed. even if he had to do it in what appeared to be a cockroach-infested dump.

“You must be Eliot.”

Eliot whipped his head to the side. There, hands in his pockets, in a sophisticated three-piece suit, stood a man. He was an older black man, maybe in his fifties or sixties, and Eliot decidedly did not know who he was.

“And you are?” he asked.

“Mayor Fogg,” he replied, “I believe I talked to your sister on the phone?”

“You sure did,” Margo responded.

She dropped her luggage onto the pavement in front of Fogg, jarring Eliot’s arm to the side with the sudden weight of the chest. He glared in her direction, but she either didn’t notice or was pretending not to as she placed her hand in Fogg’s for a businesslike shake that seemed to startle the older man.

“Right,” Fogg stumbled, “Well, then, this way, my dear.”

He ushered Margo inside, leaving Eliot on the sidewalk, fuming. This town was his birthday present—shouldn’t he be the one escorted into this shithole of a motel like royalty? In an act of petty retaliation, he wheeled his suitcase inside, leaving hers outside to hopefully be stolen by any vagrant that might walk by.

“Isn’t there a suite available?” Margo was asking as he stormed into the shabby lobby. her arm still hooked into Fogg’s formally.

“This is a motel,” the girl behind the counter responded, eyebrows raised.

“Just get me a bed and a bath and some time away from her,” Eliot said with a jerk of his arm in Margo’s direction. 

“You’re not getting two free rooms,” the girl said.

“Now, Julia,” Fogg chided, “Eliot’s the owner of this town. Treat him with a little respect, won’t you?”

“Whatever you say,” Julia replied. 

“But you’re only getting one room,” Fogg said, turning away from the counter to look at Eliot.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Margo asked.

“This is a business establishment,” Fogg said. “We can’t just give away rooms willy nilly, you understand.”

“Here’s your key,” Julia said, a saccharine-sweet smile on her lips as she reached past Fogg to place it into Eliot’s palm. 

***

Fogg wouldn’t leave. Eliot had disappeared into the bathroom five minutes ago, and Fogg was just sitting there, on one of the twin beds, droning on and on about the autobiography he was writing, taking sips from the flask he’d pulled from his suit pocket.

“I don’t want to keep you,” Margo said in the brief silence during one of his frequent pulls from his flask. “I know you must be a busy man.”

“I am an extremely busy man. Just the other day, Zelda was droning on about how I should take a vacation, as if I have any time for that sort of thing.”

Eliot exited the bathroom, shoulders pulled in, looking smaller somehow then she’d ever seen him. Any concern for him vanished, however, as he walked towards the front door.

“Where are you going?”

“Just to get a towel,” he replied. “Calm down.”

The door slammed behind him. Fogg kept talking, relaxing further into the mattress. Margo stood, patience hanging on by a thread, as he prattled on about his important mayoral duties. If Eliot didn’t get back soon, someone was going to die, and it wouldn’t be her.

***

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could we get some actually clean towels for our room?” Eliot asked.

“Were the ones in the room not to your satisfaction?” Julia asked.

“The only towel available had a disturbing brown stain on the corner.”

Eliot leaned his hands on the counter, staring down at the unhelpful girl with what he hoped was an intimidating glare.

“Right away, sir,” she replied, with that same insincere smile on her face, “anything for the owner of this town.”

“Much obliged,” he said, with a half-curtsey half-bow in her direction.

As he walked out the door, he heard her laugh behind him. He felt something within him ease—just a little bit—at the sound. There was still life in this world, even if his had stalled out.

All good feelings left him once more, at the look on Margo’s face when he reentered their room to find Fogg still monologuing to her.

“I think we could use some time to unpack,” Eliot said hurriedly when Fogg stopped for breath.

“Of course,” he replied. “Where are my manners?”

Instead of leaving, he bent down and pulled Margo’s suitcase onto the bed he was still perched on. When he made a move to unzip it, Margo snapped her hand forward and slapped his away.

“Leave,” she demanded. “Now!”

In the ringing silence that followed, Eliot resisted the urge to flee back into the bathroom. After a few weighted breaths, Fogg finally stood on unsteady legs and stumbled his way drunkenly towards the door.

“Of course,” he said, “how uncouth of me to overstay my welcome. I’ll just fuck off, then.”

“What was that?” Eliot demanded when the door had clicked shut behind Fogg.

“What?” Margo asked. “He deserved it.”

“He’s the mayor of this town, Margo, I’d rather not get on his bad side this early.”

“Please. As if he has any real power in this shithole.”

***

Margo and Eliot headed to the only diner in town, ready to settle for anything if it meant they could fill their stomachs with something for the first time all day. Once they situated themselves into a booth across from one another, Margo had to admit that it wasn’t too bad. The light was pleasant and natural, it seemed clean, and the other patrons all were quiet enough not to bother them. Plus, the waitress was nice to look at, if a bit too mousy for Margo’s tastes.

“I’m Alice. I’ll be your server today,” she introduced herself. “Can I get you two started with any drinks?” 

“Do you have a cocktail menu?” Eliot asked in a bored tone.

“We’re not licensed for alcohol.”

Alice tucked her blonde hair behind her ear, glancing at Eliot before quickly looking back down at her notepad.

“A pity,” Eliot said. “What about sparkling water?”

“No, we don’t have that either.”

Margo interrupted what was winding up to be a pointless back-and-forth.

“We’ll just have waters, doll,” she said, just to watch the cute girl blush.

“Keep it in your pants, Bambi,” Eliot said. “We’re not staying long enough for you to catch such a skittish fish.”

“There’s no harm in a little flirting, is there?”

Eliot laughed and Margo smiled for the first time in days, maybe weeks. They’d figure this shit out, together. They’d be okay. And hell, if there were a few more fish like this to catch in this podunk town, she might not even complain. Much.

***

There were still no towels in the bathroom when they got back. Eliot was going to give this Julia a piece of his mind.

“You’re being very rude,” he said, finger pointing accusingly at her across the counter separating them.

“And what is it you think I’ve done?”

“I have asked you twice now for a towel to wash this town off my body.”

”Technically, you only just now asked for the second time.”

”And yet I still don’t have a towel, now do I?”

”I don’t know. Did you ever bother to say please?” she asked, eyes twinkling.

Eliot stalled, uncomfortable. He had not, in fact, said please, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to now. Not when some _stranger_ was being so undeniably rude. Not when he’d done absolutely nothing wrong. He wouldn’t. No way, no how.

“Please?” he asked.

A genuine smile bloomed across her face, crinkling her eyes at the corner. 

“Anything for the owner of the town,” she said, handing him a set of neatly folded towels. 

***

That night, Eliot and Margo laid down to sleep in the same room, for the first time since they were small. Since Eliot would climb into her bed late at night after a nightmare. Margo would soothe him as best she could, knowing it was up to her. Knowing their parents weren’t likely to be around to help, even if they’d wanted to. Not that they ever seemed to.

Margo found herself listening to his breathing even and deepen in sleep, strangely soothed by the sound of him so close by. Despite the traumas of the day and her worries for the future, she drifted off easily, the sound of the only person she truly cared about in this world, sleeping peacefully a few feet away.


	2. The Drip

It was still dark when Margo woke up, disoriented. She felt suspiciously soggy—face damp as if she’d been crying in the night. Had she? But then she felt something wet splash onto her face. With a shriek, she rolled off the bed and vaulted towards the light switch on instinct.

“What the fuck is happening?” Eliot said, still cocooned in his bed, voice gravelly with sleep.

“What’s happening is that this hotel is fucked and we need to get out of here right fucking now, you got that?”

“And that’s new?” Eliot asked.

“Look at my bed, Eliot!” 

With a few murmured grumbles, Eliot sat up in his bed, still cocooned in his scratchy comforter. And in the fluorescent light of the wee hours of the morning, they both stared down at Margo’s bed. The entire corner of it was soaked in what looked like toilet water, turning the sheets a rusty brown. As they stared, another drop of rancid water dripped down, splashing directly onto her pillow.

“Eliot, we need to get the fuck out of here.”

“I’m not arguing, but it’s four in the morning, Bambi.”

“What’s that bitchy desk girl’s name?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Eliot responded. “I’m trying very hard not to connect with people right now.”

“She needs to fix this. Right the fuck now.”

Margo bent down to slip on her shoes, too furious to even care about her disheveled appearance. This was an unacceptable way to run a business. She would fix it right now, or _else._

“No one’s going to be there. Just go back to bed.”

Margo stalled, foot halfway in her shoe, before dropping it back to the floor with a sigh. She flung her other shoe at the wall, switched the lights back off, and crawled into the vacant side of Eliot’s bed. She grabbed the end of the comforter and yanked hard on the end to unravel the Eliot burrito, sending him sprawling awkwardly on the bed next to her.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “Get off my bed.”

“There’s no way in hell I’m sleeping in mine. We need to call the CDC and get that shit quarantined.”

“Okay, fair point.”

They shuffled around in bed. Eliot kicked her as he rearranged his limbs. Margo retaliated by yanking the comforter fully off him.

“That’s it!” Eliot said. “I’m calling Javier. Sleeping on his couch would be better than being stuck here with _you_.”

“As if he’d even pick up the phone.”

“He would!”

“When’s the last time you heard from any of your little New York friends?” she asked, smirking in the dark.

“It’s not like I’ve heard your phone blowing up this past couple of days!”

Margo went silent, tense. She couldn’t even argue. Her phone had been deafeningly silent since the news of their newfound poverty had hit the papers. She felt resentment festering within her at being snubbed, treated as less than. As if she wasn’t better than every single one of them combined. Fuck them all. 

Her stewing was interrupted by Eliot, voice somehow small in the quiet darkness of their shared room.

“What are we supposed to do?” he asked.

“We’ll figure it out,” she responded, trying for a reassuring tone. “We always do.”

God, she hoped she was right. What were they supposed to do?

***

“You!” Margo said, voice sharp and angry. 

“Me,” Julia responded, looking not-at-all cowed. 

“Call a plumber right now. Your ceiling is leaking all over the fucking place.”

Julia rolled her eyes, but she did pick up the phone, so Margo decided to let her live. For now. 

Margo looked around the dingey motel, impatiently waiting for Julia to get off the phone. She spotted a coffeepot in the corner of the room and wandered over to pour herself some. She took the Styrofoam cup back to the counter and took a sip just as Julia hung up. It took everything in her not to spit it out right on the ugly beige carpet.

“This tastes like a horse’s ass,” she spat. “You serve that? To _guests_?’

It tasted like last week’s jet fuel—like someone had brewed Folgers brand coffee ten times stronger than recommended and just reheated it every morning to serve to unsuspecting bystanders.

“We save the good coffee for the paying customers.”

“I’ll give you five dollars right now to chuck that entire coffeepot right in the dumpster.”

Julia actually laughed, surprising Margo. She was suddenly reminded that Julia was a person and not just another harbinger of Margo’s own doom.

“When is the plumber going to get here?” she snapped, crossing her arms defensively.

“I left him a message. I’ll let you know when he calls back.”

“Get me a number for the best realtor around, while you’re at it. I’m getting the fuck out of here.”

“Oh, we actually have someone,” Julia said, disappearing under the counter for a moment and rummaging around. “Here.”

She handed Margo a business card in a gaudy orange that did not inspire confidence.

“And he’s the best?” she asked.

“He sure is the only one in town,” Julia said, smiling again. 

“Fine!” Margo snapped, storming out of the lobby, purposefully leaving her Styrofoam cup on the counter for Julia to deal with.

***

“Tick Pickwick, at your service!” a portly man greeted Margo brightly.

He was an odd mix of overly cheerful and suspicious. He reminded Margo of a weasel. She hated him on sight.

“You’re late.”

He settled into the booth across from her at the diner, with a hurried apology she barely listened to.

“So, what can I help you with?” Tick asked. “Housing? Investment opportunities?”

“I want to you to sell this shit town so I can get the fuck out of here ASAP,” Margo answered.

“Well, I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m not super optimistic, he said. “You know, because the government saw no value in Schitt’s Creek. You know, when they repossessed your assets. You know, because of the humiliating—”

“Well, you better figure something out!” Margo interrupted. 

“Well, I’ll do my best,” he said, still nauseatingly cheerful. “First, we just have to get Mayor Fogg to sign off on the listing, and then we’re good to go!”

“What the fuck does that twat have to do with anything?”

“Well, you see, it’s all right here,” he said, handing over a sheaf of papers.

Margo looked them over quickly, hope of ever getting out of Schitt’s Creek dwindling by the second.

“Shit.”

***

Eliot sat on a disgusting lime-green lawn chair in front of the hotel, legs artfully flopped in front of him. The sunny day was doing nothing to lighten his mood. He’d been sitting there for over an hour, contemplating and smoking, rinse and repeat and he kept coming back to the same fact: they were fucked.

This hotel was a shithole, this entire town was a shithole, their whole lives were giant holes filled with shit. Margo could talk about selling all she wants, but who in their right minds would buy this place? 

He took another drag from his cigarette and watched the smoke drift up into the sky, prepared to wallow away the rest of the day in misery and solitude.

“You can tell your sister that the plumber was busy so I just pushed her bed against the wall and put a bucket where her bed used to be,” Julia said, interrupting what was shaping up to be a very cinematic pout.

Eliot was irritated, but when she plopped down on the garishly yellow chair next to him, crisscross applesauce like an elementary schooler, he couldn’t stay mad. How the mighty have fallen. So lonely, any old townie would do as company.

“Spectacular,” Eliot replied, smoke billowing from his mouth. “She won’t take that poorly at all.”

“It’s just for the day,” she replied. “She’ll get over it.”

“You don’t know Margo.”

“She told me just this morning that you were leaving. Why should she care?”

Julia settled further into her seat, looking over at him. Eliot met her eyes, puffing smoke into her face just to be an asshole. She wrinkled her nose but didn’t complain.

“She may be optimistic of our departure from this godforsaken town, but that doesn’t make it so, now does it?”

The silence that followed was stilted. Eliot didn’t interrupt it. He just smoked his cigarette, waiting for her to finally leave.

“Well, if you’re sticking around anyway, there’s a tailgate party tonight,” Julia said, making no move to leave. “You should come.”

“I have no idea what that means. In my mind, I’m picturing like a Klan rally.”

“Yeah, but with fewer pointy hats,” Julia said, dimples showing.

Eliot paused, unsure of what to say. Julia’s company would not be…unacceptable to him, but the rest of the people in a place like this?

“I’m not really in the mood to be a victim of a hate crime tonight,” he hedged.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” she said, finally rising from her seat.

Eliot tensed when her hand reached out towards him, but she just patted the vacant armrest on his chair and walked away, back towards the lobby.

***

“I need you to sign this,” Margo demanded, brandishing the paperwork at Fogg.

She’d finally tracked him down in front of the grocery, after asking Julia, then Alice, and finally two other diner patrons she hadn’t even known for his whereabouts. 

“And what, pray tell, is that?” he asked.

“Paperwork approving putting Schitt’s Creek back on the market.”

“Leaving so soon, are we?” Fogg asked, amusement in his voice.

“As fast as I can,” she gritted out.

“Now let’s not be too hasty. How about you and that brother of yours come to my home for dinner tonight?” 

“Or you could just sign them now.”

“Are you really turning down my more than generous offer of a meal?”

Margo took a deep breath, caging her angry retort before it could get out. She needed to get on Fogg’s good side, so he’d sign the papers and they could get out of this godforsaken town. Another deep breath—in, out.

“Of course not,” she said. “When and where?”

“Shall we say, six tonight?” he asked, handing her a sleek black business card. “Here’s my address. Be prompt.”

Without waiting for her response, he strolled away down the sidewalk before turning a corner and disappearing from her sight.

Margo had never hated anyone more in her life.

***

"Remind me why I’m here again?” Eliot asked as they walked down the cobblestone path up to Mayor Fogg’s house.

“You’re here because Fogg invited you and we need to stay on his good side,” Margo responded in a warning tone.

“Don’t say that as if I’m the one that’s going to be a problem.”

Eliot covertly studied Margo as she reached up and knocked on the front door. She looked frazzled and furious. Eliot knew what she looked like when her temper was hanging on by barely a thread, and this was it.

Fogg opened the door with a genial smile, waving them inside. The interior of the house was surprisingly chic considering the quaint exterior and even quainter town. The entryway opened into a spacious dining room, the kitchen only just separated by a countertop dividing the room in two. Everywhere Eliot looked, he saw sleek lines, stainless steel appliances, dark wood flooring that creaked slightly as they walked in. Then Eliot noticed the table.

The table itself was a deep mahogany, sturdy and smooth. It was what was on it that gave Eliot pause. Three tumblers sat next to three immaculate place settings, a whiskey bottle posing as the centerpiece. The aesthetic was all rather ruined by the three unopened cans of SpaghettiOs placed where a plate would normally go, a can opener situated just so next to the whiskey bottle.

“Really?” Margo said, tone almost too shocked to sound disdainful.

“If this isn’t suitable for your needs, you’re more than welcome to help yourself to the microwave,” Fogg said genially.

Eliot sighed, scooped up the three cans and the can opener, and took it all to the kitchen. It took some rummaging around to find bowls and spoons and verging on ten minutes just to get it all heated up. He wasn’t complaining. The less time he had to spend with those two, the better.

When he finally made it back to the dining room, Margo and Fogg had seated themselves in the two chairs farthest from one another, and a suspiciously large portion of the whiskey was gone. No one said anything as he placed steaming bowls in front of each of them and sat down at the empty seat between them.

He immediately started eating, feeling calmer with something to do. He kept eating, even as the SpaghettiOs’s burned the roof of his mouth. He eyed the whiskey, more covetously the longer it went without anyone saying anything, but couldn’t make himself make a grab for it.

Margo and Fogg were decidedly not eating. The silence was only interrupted by the slow scrape of Eliot’s spoon against his bowl. When he finally dared to look up, Margo and Fogg were glaring at each other around his head. He kicked Margo in the shin, hard.

“Just sign the goddamn papers!” she finally demanded.

“This is how you’re going to treat me?” Fogg asked. “I graciously invite you into my home and you think it’s okay to make rude demands?”

“Sign them right now!”

“You are behaving most impolitely,” Fogg said, clearly faking his own civility, based on the way his jaw was clenched.

“I’m menstruating right now, in your house,” Margo threatened. “And if you don’t sign the fucking papers, I won’t be held responsible for what I’m going to do to you.”

Fogg jerked his head back, eyes wide. Eliot was doing much the same as they both stared, dumbstruck at Margo. She sat back in her chair, looking smug at their shock.

“Well—” Fogg started, then stalled out. “Well, yes, of course I’ll sign them.”

He promptly unclipped a fancy-looking pen from his suit pocket and signed the papers one by one without another word. 

“Thank you, sir,” Margo said, as if nothing untoward had happened. “This was a lovely evening. Thank you for the invitation.”

She stood up, gathering the papers from the table. Eliot scrambled up to follow her towards the door, Fogg just after.

“I don’t think it’ll do you all that much good,” Fogg said. “It was on the market for twenty years before you two bought it up.”

With that final parting shot, Fogg shut the door firmly behind them. Eliot heard the lock click as they walked down the path, back towards the motel.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Margo said, laughing. 

“Twenty years, Margo,” he said. “What are we going to do?”

“We’ll figure it out,” she replied. “Now, I ran into that front desk girl earlier—”

“You know her name is Julia.”

“Whatever. don’t interrupt me,” Margo said. “Anyway, what is this I heard about a party?”

***

Eliot stood alone in a field full of hicks and trucks, a fire in the center of it all, miserable as he watched Margo work her way from group to group, flirting with everyone in sight. He felt out of place at this party, in this town, in his body. Without a drink in his hand, he wasn’t sure what to do with his arms.

A vaguely familiar blonde girl came up to him, shy smile slightly lopsided. She looked happy and at least halfway to drunk.

“I’m Alice,” she said. “From the café?”

“Eliot,” he replied, for lack of anything better to say. 

“I’m sorry. I’m a little drunk.”

Before he had to think of a reply to that, Julia appeared at his elbow. He smiled in relief, but quickly shut it down. God forbid she notice. 

Alice quickly left to go roast marshmallows by the fire. Eliot realized his shoulders had been tensed to the point of aching when he finally felt the tension release from them. 

“So, you decided to show up?” Julia asked, voice just a little teasing.

Eliot looked from her, to the partygoers all around, wondering what the hell he was doing, and why he was so unwilling to leave.

“I’m going to need a stiff drink to get me through this.”

“Your choices are beer or beer,” Julia offered, leading him over to a cooler perched on the back of someone’s open truck bed.

“I suppose I’ll have a beer then.”

***

Margo’s getting bored of this party fast. All the boys were dumb as bricks, and all the girls were far too straight to flirt back. She had spotted Alice at the campfire earlier, but she looked too close to drunk to be worth the trouble.

She was just about to go find Eliot and demand that they leave when she saw someone interesting. The first thing that she noticed was his chest, open vest displaying it fully for everyone to see. Then, she looked up, and his face wasn’t bad to look at either—brown skin, slightly rugged facial hair, bored eyes as he manned a grill.

“You!” she exclaimed, walking over. 

When he looked up at her, she leaned in for a kiss. He met her halfway. It’s delicious and risqué. Just what she needed. When she felt him get caught up in her kiss, in _her_ , she leaned away, smirking, With a wink in his direction, she walked back to Eliot, ignoring the man’s stunned expression.

“Come on, we’re leaving,” she demanded, interrupting Julia mid-sentence.

“Bye, then,” Julia called after them as she dragged Eliot away by his arm.

“No viable dating candidates?” Eliot asked her wryly.

“Shut up.”

“Let’s just get some sleep. I’m still fucking exhausted from last night’s leaky ceiling.”

“Oh, did I not tell you about the solution to that little dilemma?” he asked. “We’re now the proud owners of a bucket.”

“A _what_?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special shoutout to MermaidMarie because I've been using her character playlists to switch POV's and it's been working wonderfully!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy! I'm having a great time writing this.


	3. Don’t Worry, The Kids Are Alright

“So that guy from the other night,” Margo said. “He’s not for me, right?”

Margo stood in front of the mirror in their room, curling her hair section by section. Maybe he wasn’t for her, but she was so goddamn _bored_.

“You mean that homeless man you were kissing? That man?” Eliot responded.

“Oh, shut up. He wasn’t—”

“Did you see what he was wearing, Bambi?” he asked. “We may live here now, but I thought we still had standards.”

“Fine, whatever,” she said with a sigh.

Margo continued to curl her hair, the _drip drip drip_ coming from the corner of the room slowly driving her insane. Dressed to the nines—for no particular reason, of course—she stormed out of the motel room just to get away from the sound. Not to find that unkempt vagabond man, of course. 

***

“Hypothetically,” Eliot said, walking into the motel lobby, “if one was looking for employment in this godforsaken town, where would one look?”

“Well hypothetically, what kind of job would one be looking for?” Julia asked.

She rummaged beneath the counter and popped back up to spread a newspaper across it. She flipped a few pages deeper in before looking up at Eliot with expectant eyes.

“Perhaps something in trend forecasting? Or in mixology.”

“Well, let’s see. I don’t see anything in either of those—that’s weird.”

She looked up at him with that smirk on her face, the one he was starting to associate with her fucking with him. Then she looked back down, pointer finger scanning down the page.

“It says here that the position of bagboy is hiring. Do you think you’re qualified?”

“I’m not entirely sure what that is,” Eliot admitted.

“You know the person at the grocery store who bags your groceries after you buy them?” Julia asked. “If you play your cards right, that could be you.”

Eliot tried to picture himself—fondling other people’s groceries, smiling at them, and making small talk—but couldn’t. He’d had such aspirations in life. He was going to invent the world’s most delicious cocktail and retire at thirty-five with a beautiful trophy husband. He just wasn’t sure he could do it, settle for so much less then he’d expected. At least not yet.

“Right,” he said. “Do you mind if I—?” he asked, snatching the newspaper from her hands before she had a chance to respond.

“You’re welcome!” Julia called to his retreating back. 

The jingling of bells on the lobby door was his only response. 

***

The diner was surprisingly busy as Margo sat, sipping her coffee at her favorite table in the corner. Alice rushed around, hurriedly clearing tables and taking orders. She had come in hoping for a little social interaction with the mousey girl. Eliot was always talking to that front desk girl—yes, fine Julia—and Margo was starting to feel a little isolated. None of her friends had called or texted since that fateful night. 

Was a little conversation that fucking much to ask? She supposed so. 

Before her thoughts could turn even more maudlin, she spotted tall, dark and handsome from the corner of her eye. He was sprawled out in a booth by himself, long legs sent akimbo in the aisle as he leaned back into the adjoining wall, eyes following Alice’s movements around the room. Well, she _had_ wanted conversation. Margo scooped up her mug and headed over before she could question the decision more than she already was. 

When she sat down across from him, only his raised eyebrows acknowledged her place in his personal space. Margo took a sip of her half-full coffee with feigned nonchalance. Her stomach felt squirmy and queasy—it must be the coffee.

“So, about that kiss,” she started. “It’s not you, it’s me, and I’m just not interested in—” 

“Stop,” he said, finally looking up at her. “Don’t make it weird.”

“Excuse you,” she said. “I don’t make things weird. I make them fabulous, thank you very much.”

“Whatever you say, princess,” he said with a little smirk. 

“It’s Margo.”

He turned in his seat to face her, finally looking at her, like he really saw her, and yes, this is what she had wanted. To be looked at, to be seen. 

“Penny.”

“As in, for your thoughts?” 

“Yeah, but you can keep them,” he said with a laugh.

“How generous of you.”

In the lull, they smiled at each other—just a little—Margo over the rim of her mug and Penny with his face looking out into the diner once more, as if he couldn’t look right at her when he did it. It was almost, dare she say it, cute.

But the spell was broken when Alice came over to their table. Or more accurately, Penny’s smile bloomed, real and true, on his face as he looked up at her.

“I’m on break,” Alice said. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” he responded as she hauled him up by his hands. “Later, princess.”

He put his arm over Alice’s shoulders as they walked towards the door. 

“Bye!” Alice called, looking back at her with bright eyes.

Margo felt her chest hollow out again, as she once more found herself on the outside, looking in. She left cash on the table for the coffee and walked out the door, feeling lower than she had before she’d come. 

***

“I can’t believe I still have to do this,” Margo complained as they walked into the Community Center.

“It’s court-ordered community service,” Eliot replied. “They don’t cancel it just because you moved.”

“It was one DUI, Eliot.”

“That’s all it takes.”

With a sigh, Margo walked up to the only person in the room. She was seated at a white folding table with her legs artfully crossed atop it, leaning so far back in her chair that Margo was surprised it hadn’t fallen yet. In a high ponytail and black turtleneck fitted just so, she stood out from everyone else Margo had seen in this godforsaken town so far. She was also, most assuredly, a lesbian. 

“Hi,” Margo said, voice suggestive as she eyed the woman up and down. “I’m here for community service.”

“Ah, you’re one of those, then,” she said, looking Margo up and down. “A pity.” “One of what?” 

“I’m guessing pill-popper,” the woman replied. “You’re clearly too stuck up to be selling—but taking?” 

“Excuse me?” Margo asked.

Any interest she had in the woman died at her condescending tone—as if she knew anything at all about Margo. 

“Don’t worry, buttercup,” she said. “You’re not the only one with a dirty little secret.”

She lazily jerked her arm towards the door behind Margo, and there stood Penny. Shit. Eliot elbowed her in the side and raised his brows, leering. She elbowed him back harder, right in his ribs, and dug it in until he shoved her away.

“Marina,” Penny said with a nod to the girl behind the desk.

“Penny,” she said, with what almost seemed like a cheerful smile.

Penny walked up the table and grabbed a garishly yellow safety vest from a box to the side. He slipped it on over his clothes. Margo grimaced down at her purple blouse.

“Are those really necessary? It’s going to clash with my outfit.”

“This isn’t Say Yes to the Dress, Princess,” Penny said, walking back towards the door. “Just put it on.”

With a sigh, she scooped a vest from the box, and followed him towards the exit, Eliot a step behind. 

“Look on the bright side,” Eliot said. “At least none of your friends are around to see you in this.”

Margo turned to glare at him and was immediately blinded by the flash of his phone camera in her face.

“Love you!” he called with a wave of his hand as he walked quickly away from her, back the way they’d come. 

Leaving her alone with Penny. Great. With one last pained sigh, she picked up her pace to catch up to him.

***

Eliot stood in front of his closet, desperately trying to make his clothes fit in the small space. Even with his wardrobe paired down against his will, it was still far too much for such a small closet. And he had to share it with Margo.

“This is impossible!” he exclaimed.

He collapsed onto the ground, surrounded by all the clothes he just couldn’t quite make fit. He looked up at Julia where she stood, high up on a ladder, patching up the part of the ceiling that had been damaged by the drip. 

“Julia,” he said, voice a drawn-out whine, when she didn’t immediately respond.

“I’m almost done,” she snapped.

He stared as she continued to do something to the ceiling that he didn’t comprehend. It involved pasty white stuff and some sort of spatula tool. That’s all he knew, and all he needed to. As the seconds droned on, he sighed as loud as he could and draped a silk shirt over his face, hoping it would suffocate him. Why was everything so hard here? He didn’t care what Margo said, this was just too much to deal with. 

His pity party was interrupted by the shirt being ripped from his face with a violence he hadn’t expected from Julia. She pushed his clothes out of the way, ignoring his whining, and laid down next to him on the scratchy carpet. She didn’t immediately say anything, but it was nice, just to have some there—have her there.

“You could sell some of this,” she said.

He looked over at her. She was smoothing the silk shirt between her fingers, eyebrows bunched in contemplation. 

Eliot immediately balked at the idea. These were his things. This was all he had left from his real life. On the other hand, he was running low on hair products and had no idea what he’d do once he ran out.

“You think so?”

Julia sat up, crisscross applesauce across from him. She pulled on his arm until he sat up as well.

“Some of this stuff is really nice.”

“Just, some?” he asked.

“Shut up,” she said. “You know what I mean.”

“I guess,” he started, hesitantly, “I guess I could.”

“Okay, keep or sell?” she asked, silk shirt held up for him to inspect.

***

Margo and Penny picked up trash for the next half hour in silence. She’d finally gotten the hang of the stupid trash poker. Most of the things she picked up were actually making it into the bag now, instead of falling back down to the ground repeatedly.

“So, what did you do?” Margo asked when the silence became unbearable.

“Do?” he said.

“To end up here.”

“Just sold some stuff,” he responded. “Nothing hard, just shrooms, weed, a few uppers.” 

“And you’re not in jail because?”

“Henry is the one who caught me.”

“Henry?”

“Mayor Fogg.”

“That twat let you off?” Margo asked in disbelief. 

“He’s not so bad,” Penny said. “He knew what’d happen if I got caught by the wrong people. A brown boy selling drugs? Come on.”

Margo nodded in understanding, continuing to pick up trash. 

“I still think he’s a dick.”

Penny laughed but nodded his assent. 

“So, you and Alice, huh?” Margo blurted out before the silence could settle over them once more.

“Me and Alice,” he said with another nod.

“How long have you two been together?” 

“We’ve been on and off since high school.”

“And now you’re on?” she asked.

“And now we’re on.”

Their time was more companionable after that. Margo did her best to quiet the little nagging jealousy in the back of her mind, that Penny was with Alice. She didn’t even want _him,_ not really. She just wanted _something._ She’d lost so much. And he was there.

***

“You can’t just keep everything!” Julia yelled.

The keep pile had grown and was stacked precariously on the bed. It was in danger of falling over. In contrast, the sell pile next to it had three items in it: a ripped tank top that she refused to believe he’d ever worn, a single grey vest he’d bitched about selling three times since she’d put it in that pile, and a pair of shoes that looked suspiciously like Margo’s. 

“These are my things!” he yelled back. 

Julia was shocked by the shout. She’d yet to see Eliot lose his cool, and she couldn’t help but wonder if this was the most Eliot she’d been allowed to see yet. His hair was sent askew from running his hands through it in exasperation, and he’d unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt as their night wore on. He looked almost unkempt, and it was a jarring sight to behold. 

“I’ve hand-selected all of these things,” he said, quieter this time.

He ran his hands down a pair of slacks, almost reverently. Julia didn’t quite get it. Most of her clothes were years old by now, and almost exclusively bought for comfort. Eliot seemed attached to his wardrobe in a way she could never be. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t sell any of this,” Julia said.

Eliot shot his eyes up from the slacks, hazel eyes meeting hers.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “But this stuff clearly matters to you. You should keep it.”

Eliot’s lips quirked up into a half-hearted smile. His eyes wandered over to the too-small closet and the smile dropped once more.

“But where am I going to put it all?”

Julia looked over to the blouse in the keep pile she’d been eyeing all evening.

“I’ve got an idea.”

***

Eliot stood in the vacant room next to his and Margo’s. He watched in confusion as Julia walked over to the closet and swung the door wide with a dramatic flourish of her arms.

“You can keep it all in here,” she said. “On one condition.”

She spun back towards him, finger raised as if shushing him, other hand settling on her hip. Eliot smiled at her again, taken in by her antics. 

“And what’s that?”

“I like some of your stuff,” she said. “Let me borrow it whenever you want, and the closet is yours.”

Eliot paused. unsure. Someone else wearing his clothes? He wasn’t sure he could do it. But then he looked over at Julia, looking so pleased with her idea, and caved.

“How about you can wear anything you’ like after I’ve given you permission?” he asked. “Preferably, at least two days’ notice.”

Julia laughed at him but nodded her agreement. They shook. Eliot felt something surge through him. If he didn’t know any better, he’d almost think it was contentment. 

***

“I see you finally got the front desk girl to fix our sealing,” Margo said later that night from the comfort of her bed.

“It’s Julia, god!”

“Whatever.”

“What about you and homeless chic?” Eliot asked.

“He’s dating that waitress.”

“Hmm,” Eliot said, wondering if that would stop her.

“Don’t hmm me,” Margo said.

“Whatever.”

Eliot turned off the bedside lamp and curled up in his own bed. They continued to argue. Eliot got in the last word by falling asleep first. 


	4. The Party

Eliot was packing a bag. Why in god’s name was Eliot packing a bag? Margo watched him put together an overnight bag in utter bafflement from her seated position on her bed. Eliot either didn’t notice or was pretending not to. 

“Why are you packing?” she finally asked. 

“I’m going to sleep next door because all of this,” he started, waving his hand to encompass the entirety of the room, “is stressing me out.”

Margo looked around. The majority of her garments were strewn around her bed. A pile of shoes partially blocked the door. Her various face products lay scattered across the desk’s surface.

“I was organizing my things,” Margo defended.

“Yeah, three days ago!”

“Like you have any room to talk! Do you remember what your room used to look like when we were kids?”

“That’s beside the point!” he yelled. 

Margo watched him take a deep breath in, then out, before he met her eyes.

“I think a little space would be good for us.”

“Fine, I’ll just give you some space then, goddamn,” Margo said.

“Good,” Eliot said, walking out the door and closing it firmly behind him.

Margo sat and stewed. What did he expect her to do? Sit here and what, what, wait for him to come back? She laid back down on her bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. She grabbed her phone and surfed twitter, then instagram, then facebook. She looked at all the last texts she’d gotten from her life before and thought about all the texts she didn’t get after. When Margo looked at the clock again, it had barely been over an hour. 

She got up and marched out of her room, opening the neighboring door without knocking. Margo couldn’t help the little thrill of victory she felt when Eliot startled at her intrusion, dropping the remote he’d been using to channel surf.

“What the hell?”

“So, I was thinking we should throw a party,” she said, draping herself across the bed next to him. 

“Bambi,” Eliot whined. “I was going to veg out with the tv.”

“Just a little party,” Margo wheedled.

“I don’t think—” 

“Come on, Eliot. I miss my life, and I miss doing things, and I miss being surrounded by loose acquaintances who think that I’m funny and smart and charming, and—” 

“Alright.” Eliot interrupted. “But we’re keeping it small. A game night.”

“Excellent,” Margo said, clapping her hands twice before sauntering out of the room like the cat who’d caught the canary. 

“Clean up your shit first!” Eliot called after her. 

***

“So, I need to flesh out this game night thing,” Eliot said.

This time he’d taken the yellow lawn chair, and Julia was in the lime green one. 

“Flesh away,” she said.

He gave her a dirty look, letting the smoke drift lazily from his lungs before continuing. 

“Between you, me and my sister, that barn guy, and that girl in the diner, we have five, and obviously we need an even six for ultimate gameplay.” 

“What if I’m not a game person?” 

“Please,” Eliot scoffed. “You’re far too much like me to not be a game person. So, options for a sixth?”

“I don’t know if any of them will be up to your rigorous standards,” Julia said, scrolling through her phone. 

“They just need to be smart and levelheaded. Is that too much to ask?”

“Around here, it might be.”

“What does that say about you?” Eliot asked.

“Oh, now I don’t meet your standards?” Julia asked. “I guess you’ll have to find two more people then, now won’t you?”

She stood up, patting the armrest again as she walked away, towards the lobby. Well, shit.

***

The lobby door opened not five minutes after she’d parted ways with Eliot, and here he was. She suppressed a smile. He looked like a chagrined schoolboy, staring at the ground like that.

“I apologize,” he said, stilted and formal.

“I accept your apology,” she replied, matching his grim tone, grin on her face.

“Will you please come to game night?” he asked. “It won’t be nearly as fun without you.”

“I was bluffing about not coming. I just wanted to hear you beg.” 

“Kinky.”

Julia laughed. This was the most fun she’d had in the godforsaken town in years. Just her and Eliot, talking about nothing. She hoped the feeling would last.

“So, plus one?” Eliot asked, interrupting her thoughts.

“As you wish,” she said, blowing a kiss his way. 

***

Eliot watched Julia usher in a younger girl with trepidation. She had curly blond hair and a slight build. The truly worrying part was her eyes. They looked detached and amused at everything they landed on, which was particularly alarming when her gaze landed on Eliot and a smirk broke out across her face. 

“This is Fray,” Julia said.

Fray bent at the waist in a proper bow, never taking her dead eyes off Eliot’s own. 

“Right, well,” Eliot said, unsure of what to do. “Nice to meet you.”

Fray stayed bowed and staring at him until Julia latched onto her arm and yanked her back up. Fray scowled but didn’t look away from Eliot.

“Where did you meet this one?” he asked, rapidly shifting his eyes over to Julia, before looking back at enemy number one. 

“I used to be her babysitter,” she said, flicking Fray’s ear, hard. 

Fray finally looked away to glare at Julia. Eliot was pretty sure that this was all a horrible idea, actually, and he was going to kill Margo dead when she emerged from the bathroom. Before he could act out his revenge plans, there was a knock at the door. With a drawn-out sigh, he wrenched it open. There, on his threshold stood barn guy looking grumpy and diner girl looking cheerful. Great. What a wonderful evening this would be.

“Hi!” Alice greeted. “I brought pie.”

She held out a clearly homemade apple pie. Even Eliot’s frozen-over heart couldn’t help but thaw a little as he looked down at the pie now in his hands. She’d baked a pie for god’s sake. 

“Welcome,” he said, ever the host. “Make yourself at home.”

He gestured them all over to the table, extra seats added for the occasion. Just as everyone was getting settled, Margo emerged from the bathroom, looking far too cheerful at the prospect of all these strangers in what was pretty much their home.

“You made it!” Margo said, undoubtedly for the whole room, but Eliot couldn’t help but notice that her eyes never left barn boys. 

***

“No! She’s an entrepreneur!” Eliot shouted at Alice. “She made that sex tape!”

Alice looked flustered, a piece of paper displaying Kim Kardashian’s name on her forehead. She’d been guessing incorrectly for the past few minutes and Eliot was getting angry. He knew it wasn’t her fault, but nothing was going according to plan. Fray was frankly creeping him out, and this was not shaping up to be a good meld of people for game night.

“Stop yelling at her!” Margo demanded.

“I’m not yelling at her!” Eliot yelled.

Penny put his hand on Alice’s knee. She looked over at him, eyes wide. “That girl you hated from chemistry, sophomore year.”

“Kim?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Now think trashy tabloids and reality tv shows you’d yell at me for turning on.”

Alice paused, nose crinkling. Eliot was feeling too uncharitable to call it cute. He sat back in his chair, crossed his arms and glared down at the cocktail in his hands.

“Kardashian?” Alice asked. “Kim Kardashian?”

“Yes!” Margo yelled, victory in her eyes.

Eliot watched her eyes grow distant again when Penny kissed Alice, quick and light, and narrowed his eyes at the pair, anger still simmering low in his stomach.

Right when he thought it couldn’t get worse, there was another knock on the door. He lost all sympathy for Margo when she let three random men he’d never seen in his life into their room like they were old friends. 

“I thought this was supposed to be game night,” Eliot snapped.

“It is,” Margo said. “Game night just got a bit bigger.”

“It’s not even an even number of people,” Eliot argued. “How will this even work?”

“I’m sorry for inviting a few people, Eliot, god,” she said. “You’re not the only one dying in this town. It’s boring and I’m just trying to make the best of it.” 

With those parting words, she sat back down at the table, gulped down the rest of her drink in one breath, and slammed a piece of paper onto her head.

“Well, why don’t I go ahead and even out the numbers then,” Eliot said, storming out of the room.

Once he was in the adjoining room, alone, he felt mortification fill him. He’d made a scene, in front of strangers. He’d gotten so angry. No, he’s been angry, at everything. At himself for losing all their money, at Margo for bringing them to this town where he stands out like a sore thumb, at the entire goddamn town. 

It was bubbling there, right under the surface. He just wished it hadn’t come out like that, in a room full of tipsy people he barely knew. He felt stupid and childish. He felt like the square cog trying to fit into a round hole, and it wasn’t working. He didn’t know what to do.

***

Margo had switched to the harder stuff after Eliot left, chest aching. Eliot was all she had, and he wasn’t here, all because she had yelled at him. She smiled at Alice, at Penny, at Julia, played the stupid game, but her heart wasn’t in it anymore. She wanted to go after Eliot but didn’t know what to say. So, she kept drinking, kept playing this stupid game Eliot had picked and didn’t even get to make out with any boys she’d invited. Not that she would have enjoyed it, anyway. 

***

“I’m gonna need you to come back out there,” Julia said as she opened the door. 

She closed the door behind her, leaning her back on it to give Eliot a little space. Eliot sat on the bed, knees pulled up to his chest, his arms cocooned around them. 

“Why would I do that?” he asked, not looking up from the bedsheets he was staring at intently.

“Because I don’t really like most of those people,” she said, taking a few steps towards the bed. “I came for you, not them.”

“What about Fray?”

“I’m sorry I invited her,” she said, wincing. “That might have been one of those things that was funnier in my head.”

“You don’t say?” he asked, finally looking up.

He looked miserable. 

“I can’t go back out there. It’s embarrassing.”

“Oh, those people are all way too drunk to remember anything happened,” Julia reassured.

She took a few more steps towards the bed, holding out her hand to him. Eliot stared at it long enough that Julia almost took it back, but then he put his hand in hers. She smiled and pulled him up. He made no move to drop her hand, so she squeezed his and held on. 

“Come on,” she said, leading him out the door. “Let’s go kick everyone else’s asses at charades.” 

***

Long after the partygoers had gone, Margo laid in her bed, awake. Even in the dark, the room felt like it was spinning around her. She’d tried her best to drink away her feelings but here they were, just as insistent as they were before she’d taken her first shot, then her second, then her third, fourth, fifth. It felt like there was a barrier separating her and Eliot, dead air made up of all her half-started apologies hanging between his bed and hers.

She tossed and turned, dizzy and drunk, until she couldn’t anymore. She plucked her pillow from her bed and stumbled drunkenly to Eliot’s, curling into his bed without asking. He didn’t even protest.

“’m sorry,” she slurred, face pressed into his shoulder. “Shouldn’t have been mean to you.”

Eliot’s shoulders relaxed; tension she hadn’t even realized was there suddenly gone. Margo’s head went rolling off his shoulder, but before she could complain, he’d wrapped his arm around her shoulder in a half-hug.

“It’s okay, Bambi,” he said.

The air cleared, Margo slept soundly for a few hours, before waking up dazed and confused, and stumbling drunkenly back to her own bed. All was well once more. 


	5. Accidental Yoga

“Can you get a heart murmur from lack of sleep?” Eliot asked. “Because I haven’t really slept since we got here, and I think my body is shutting down.”

“You’re twenty-eight, dumbass. I don’t think you’re having a heart murmur,” Margo replied.

Eliot stood and paced, hand held to his throat feeling his pulse jump irregularly, and feeling his anxiety ratchet up a notch at every jump.

“It was definitely irregular.”

“Whatever. I’m off to work.”

“Court-mandated community service does not count as employment,” Eliot argued.

“Better than you,” Margo said, walking towards the door.

“You’re going to feel very guilty when I slip into a coma, and you have to come visit me in the hospital on hospice!” he shouted after her.

She laughed, closing the door on him. Alone in the room, all he could focus on was the sound of his heart.

***

“So, why do you always dress like that?” Penny asked. “No one’s even going to see you.”

“I can see me,” Margo quipped, looking down at her frankly spectacular outfit.

She was wearing a white sheer button-down she’d stollen from Eliot’s secret closet tucked into a short black suede skirt paired with a lavender belt, sheer stockings, and wedge heels to match.

“I guess, man,” Penny laughed. “But aren’t you cold? Don’t your feet hurt?”

“I lost all feeling in my feet years ago. And this? This is nothing,” she said, gesturing to the air around her.

She was, in fact, a little cold. But hell if she was going to admit that. Besides, it was worth the discomfort to look this good. She’d seen Penny’s eyes dip down her legs when she’d first arrived and had been walking on cloud nine ever since.

As if to curse her specifically, the sky opened and poured down onto them, soaking through her flimsy shirt and drenching her in seconds. She looked over to Penny, and he didn’t look much better.

“Come on!” he yelled over the downpour, grabbing her arm and dragging her along until they were both running.

He ushered her into a barn, his barn, and immediately handed her a towel. She ran it over her hair, down her soaked-through arms, and down further still along her legs. Margo looked up to see that Penny had taken his shirt off and was mopping the water off of his chest. Her throat went dry and aching, so she looked back down.

“That’s one way to get out of trash duty,” she said.

Penny laughed.

***

Eliot burst into the lobby with a lot less dramatic flair then Julia had come to expect. He looked almost withdrawn, arms drooped at his sides.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

“I thought I was having a heart attack,” he said. “But I looked up my symptoms, and I think I’m having a pulmonary embolism.”

“Well you look great,” Julia said, even though he really really didn’t.

“This is serious. I need you to take me to the hospital.” 

“Okay, well the closest hospital is in Elmdale, so—”

“There has to be a doctor somewhere,” Eliot argued.

“I think I know what to do,” Julia said. “Come on.”

This was either going to be the funniest thing that had ever happened to her, or it was going to be a disaster. Either way, it might actually help Eliot with whatever was really going on here.

***

Eliot was glaring at Julia where she sat in the chair next to the table he was awkwardly perched on. She’d brought him to a veterinary clinic. A veterinarian. He may never forgive her for this.

“So, what seems to be the problem?” the presumed vet said.

Eliot finally looked away from Julia to glare at the girl instead. Her blue scrubs bunched as she bent down to pull a notepad from a cabinet.

“I’m just not sleeping, and I think there’s a lack of oxygen getting to my heart because I’m feeling very suffocated.,” he said, all in one breath.

“Okay, right,” she said. “Well if it’s a heart attack, we’re way too far away from the nearest hospital for you to make it through the night.”

“What?” 

Julia was laughing, hand covering her mouth to try to stifle the sound. It was not working. Eliot was going to strangle her.

“Fen,” Julia said, voice chiding behind the laughter.

“Just kidding,” Fen said. “Take a deep breath for me.”

She brought a stethoscope to his chest, listening to him breathe. Eliot couldn’t get over the fact that it was probably meant to diagnose dogs.

“

Now, the good news is that I don’t think you’re going to need a hospital visit. The bad news is that I’m pretty sure you’re having a panic attack.” 

“No, those aren’t real,” Eliot said with a little laugh. “Those are just a PR spin for celebrity publicists. Trust me, I’ve known enough celebrities.”

“No, they’re real,” Fen countered.

Eliot looked over to Julia. She nodded once, no longer laughing.

“Well, shit.”

***

Margo got back to the motel to find it dark. Eliot had pulled the curtains and turned off the lights. He was currently curled into a ball in the middle of his bed, eyes squeezed closed in a way that in no way looked restful.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked. “It feels like a crypt in here.”

“She flicked on the lights and pulled the curtains wide. Eliot groaned in protest, immediately covering his eyes with both hands.

“Close the blinds, Margo. I’m sleeping!”

Margo sat down on his bed, petting his hair back in concern, but he just slapped her hand away.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m on day two of a panic attack, and I haven’t slept at all.”

“You know that panic attacks aren’t real,” Margo said. “That’s just what celebrities say to make themselves—” 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Eliot said. “But apparently they are real and I’m having one.”

“Oh,” Margo said, unconvinced. “Well while you were having your little panic attack, I somehow agreed to go to a yoga class.”

“That could be good for me,” he said.

There was no way in hell she was going to a yoga class tonight, not for anything. She hated all that stretching and chanting bullshit. Nope, not happening.

“I’m not going,” Margo said.

“It’s my turn to take a selfish,” Eliot said.

“No, it’s not! You selfished last time.”

“Nuh-uh. Ibiza, remember? You went on that blind date, and I had to rescue you. It’s my turn.”

“Fine,” Margo said. “But I’m going to complain the whole time.”

“Could you close the blinds?” Eliot asked. 

Margo stood up, bypassed the blinds and left out the front door to kill some time. Eliot could close his own goddamn blinds. Serves him right for making her suffer through _yoga_.

***

“I don’t think I can do this,” Margo said, looking around the barn.

There are so many people here, she’s already cringing at the smell of all these people sweating, and it hasn’t even started yet.

“You made it!” Alice called, walking over to them. “It’s pairs night, so you’ll need to partner up.”

Eliot and Margo both glanced at each other, disgust in their eyes.

“Okay, well I’m not touching you,” Eliot said.

“I’m not touching you either,” Margo replied. 

“Okay,” Alice interrupted. “Eliot, why don’t you go work with Zelda over there. And Margo, you can work with Penny.”

Margo looked over at Penny, already stretching his legs, readying himself for the class. She squared her shoulders and walked over, ponytail swinging behind her.

***

Zelda was an odd woman. She seemed to keep her arms raised delicately at her sides an abnormal amount, and when she’d introduced herself to Eliot, she’d smoothed her curly blond hair back from her face three times instead of putting it up into a ponytail.

“I think this could be good for you,” she said, looking deeply into Eliot’s eyes.

“I suppose a little exercise could be good for us all,” Eliot hedged, looking down at his feet.

“Fen told me about your nervous breakdown,” she said. “She didn’t mention any names, but when she said it was someone precious, I just knew.”

At Eliot’s sharp look up, she continued.

“Henry has spoken of you.”

Eliot looked up at her, feeling uncomfortable. She had an intensity about her eyes, as if she was seeing everything within him, but wouldn’t judge anything he said. It was all he needed to cave.

“It’s just all these feelings of displacement,” he said, following Alice’s instructions for a simple sun salutation. “I think I’m just having a hard time adjusting to the overall aesthetics of the town, you know?”

Zelda flowed easily into each pose beside him, making every one of his movements look clunkier than they otherwise would.

“Mmhmm,” She murmured. “Lots of emotions, lots of talking. That’s good.”

Eliot looked at her, still feeling uncomfortable, and fidgety under her all-knowing eyes. How was he supposed to survive this class?

***

How was she supposed to survive this class? Margo wasn’t sure she could, as she stood behind Penny in downward dog, hand supporting his lower back, keeping it straight as his taught muscles stretched and—nope. Not going there.

“You need to press more firmly on his back,” Alice said, coming over.

Her delicate hands pressed down on Margo’s own, pushing Penny down firmly. Margo swallowed, nodding silently at the command. Who knows what she’d say if she actually tried to speak.

”Don’t get shy on me now,” Penny teased.

Margo laughed, raggedly, not looking at anyone.

When Alice walked away again, Margo found herself ogling Penny’s ass once more. How was she supposed to survive this class? Goddamn.

***

Zelda was in child’s pose, chest to the ground, arms in front of her, gracefully easing into the ground. At Alice’s command, Eliot awkwardly pressed his back to hers, slumping on top of her. His spine popped and stretched as he eased into the pose. He really hoped he wasn’t hurting her, but she seemed unreasonably strong for an older woman. There was no shake in her arms as she supported his weight.

“Now on a big inhale, identify any tension you may be holding,” Alice said, still circling the room. “And on a big exhale, breath it out.”

“I burnt my sausage casserole,” Zelda said quietly.

“I’m pretty sure I’m really lonely here,” Eliot said, even quieter.

And as if the admission had lifted a weight off of his back, Eliot felt his eyes drooping closed, and before he even knew it, he was asleep. 

***

“I can’t believe you fell asleep on that lady’s back,” Margo said as they walked back to the motel.

“Shut _up_ ,” Eliot replied.

“That’s just so embarrassing for you.”

“Kind of like ogling some dudes butt right in front of his girlfriend for an entire hour?”

“I was not!”

“Whatever!”

“I wasn’t!”

“Fine! You weren’t!” Eliot said, energy depleting. “Can we just go to bed when we get back to our room?”

“It’s only seven,” she said, eyeing Eliot in concern.

His eyes were still drooping, his whole body was, really. 

“Sure,” she said. “We can just sleep.”

The smile on Eliot’s face would make laying in the dark surfing instagram worth it. Or she could always sneak out of the room and hit a bar. It’d been months since she’d made out with anyone. The night was young, anything could happen. 


	6. The Turkey Shoot

Julia knocked on the door in trepidation. Eliot had called her, voice sounding shaky and scared. She wasn’t sure what she would find—wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She hoped Eliot was okay

“Don’t judge me for what I’m about to ask you to do,” Eliot said as he opened the door. 

Julia closed it behind herself and followed Eliot over to the nightstand. Sat atop it was a clear cup with what looked like a bug. 

“It’s a bug,” she said, voice deadpan. 

“A demonic beetle,” Eliot replied. “I googled it, and apparently it takes literal chunks out of your skin.” 

When she just stared down at the bug, he continued. 

“Chunks, Julia! Chunks!” 

“Alright!” Julia said in fond exasperation. “What do you want me to do, kill it?” 

“I think I just need moral support while I pick up the cup and take it outside.” 

“Or we could just kill it,” Julia said. 

She grabbed a nearby shoe to smoosh it with—Margo would probably kill her for this—and lifted the cup. Before she could kill it with prejudice, it flew away. Julia jumped back and stood next to Eliot as they watched it fly off into parts unknown. 

“Well, I guess I don’t need to be here,” Julia said, walking towards the door. 

“Now, it’s just in the dark corners of the room,” Eliot whined. “Waiting for nightfall to attack.” 

Julia spun on her heel, grin big and bright as she looked at Eliot’s harassed expression. 

“Sometimes I forget what it was like before I knew you,” she said, still grinning. 

“Just go already,” Eliot demanded, not taking his eyes off the corner she was pretty sure the beetle had fled to. 

God, Julia was so happy to know him. 

***

“What’s in the meadow smoothie?” Margo asked Alice, staring down at the menu in indecision. 

“Whatever we have on hand when it’s ordered,” Alice replied. 

“And what do you have now?” 

“Berries and spinach mostly, I think,” Alice said, tucking her hair behind her ear and looking up at Margo shyly. 

“I’ll take one of those then.” 

Margo smiled at the girl and grinned even brighter when she blushed and skittered away, back into the kitchen. 

“I wouldn’t drink that if I were you,” a voice said from behind her. 

She turned around, and there stood a woman with the most eclectic outfit she’d seen in this town so far. She was wearing a flowery purple jumper over grey leggings with black pop out hearts on the knees. Her feet were donned in black combat boots, lacey grey socks peeping up over the tops. Covering it all was a bright pink trench coat that really shouldn’t have worked with the outfit but somehow did. Her hair was twisted into two separate buns directly on top of her head, and her lips were painted pink to match her coat. She was the cutest thing Margo had ever seen. 

“And why is that?” Margo asked, not even trying to hide her perusal of the girl’s outfit. 

“Alice makes a mean smoothie,” she said. “And by mean, I mean it’ll ruin your colon and run right through you.” 

“That’s—rather graphic,” Margo replied. 

“I sometimes prescribe them to my patients when they’re feeling a little backed up,” she said brightly. 

“So, you’re a doctor?” 

“Veterinarian,” she said. “I’m Fen.” 

Margo found herself even more charmed when she held out her hand to shake, all businesslike. Margo held her hand tight, a little longer than strictly necessary for niceties’ sake. But, hell with it. She’s never been all that nice. 

“Margo.” 

She finally let Fen’s hand drop when Alice came back, smoothie in hand. 

“Here’s your meadow,” Alice said. 

Margo immediately took a sip. It was chalky, bitter, and far too runny to be considered a smoothie by anyone with even a little culinary expertise. Despite this, Margo swallowed it down. Alice seemed far too fragile around the edges to take any sort of rejection. 

“Thank you,” Margo said, handing her a five and walking out of the diner with a wink in Fen’s direction. 

“Wait,” Fen called. 

Margo stopped to wait for her, intrigued. She caught up with Margo just outside the diner. Her smile had dropped off her face as she looked up at Margo, biting her lips in apparent nerves. 

“Did you maybe want to have dinner sometime?” Fen asked. “It’s just, you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, and I didn’t want to miss my shot, so do you think—”

“I’d love to,” Margo interrupted. 

Fen smiled. 

***

“I think you owe me an apology,” Eliot said. 

He was lounging against the door of the lobby, arms crossed, barring any customers from entry. Not that there ever were any. Julia kind of hoped someone would push open the door just to watch him fall on his face. 

“What ever for?” Julia asked, batting her lashes his way. 

“How about for the fact that I’m going to have to sleep in fear for the foreseeable future?” 

“Ah, you truly are one with nature,” Julia said. 

“I am!” 

“Does that mean you want to go on Fogg’s annual shootout with me?” Julia asked. 

Eliot paused, seemingly at a loss for words. He unfolded his arms and sauntered over to the counter, draping his arms overtop that instead. 

“And what, pray tell, would I be shooting?” 

“What would you be shooting? Probably your foot,” she said. 

He reached across the counter and smacked her arm lightly. She smiled down at it, pleased with the development. Eliot always seemed so contained, even with all of his dramatic leanings. This was good. They were good. 

“The rest of us will be hunting turkey.” 

He actually seemed to be thinking about it. She wondered if he secretly harbored a desire to shoot things—she doubted it—or if he was just lonely enough to jump at any chance to socialize. Either way, Julia hoped he’d come. She’d been joking when she suggested it, but it really would be more fun this way. 

“I’m in,” he said, nodding decisively. 

This was going to be so much fun. 

***

They were painting a fence this time. Margo was lamenting her decision to wear flats because Penny kept making fun of how much of the fence she just couldn’t reach. She’d tried jumping, but he’d laughed so hard at her that she must have looked extremely foolish. 

“What are you doing tonight?” Margo asked him. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “Making chili, doing laundry. You know, the usual.” 

Margo waited for him to reciprocate, but he didn’t. God, was he raised in that barn too? 

“A polite person would now ask what I’m doing tonight.” 

“That’s what this is about. Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. 

She sighed, letting the silence resettle around them. He clearly wasn’t interested in anything she had to say. She wasn’t going to force him to care about anything she had to say. They’d just stand here in silence, painting. And then they’d both go home, and never say a word to each other ever again. 

“So, I have a date with Fen tonight,” she said. 

“Really?” Penny said, sounding shocked. “I thought she’d be too cheerful for you.” 

“Are you saying that I’m gloomy?” 

“No, just—” he started, then stopped, searching for the right word. “just intense.” 

She looked up at him and got caught in his eyes. They stared, unblinking, as a hypnotic energy bloomed between them. Margo felt like she could feel his eyes on her. But then he blinked and the spell broke. They continued to paint in silence. 

***

Eliot eyed Margo. She’d been sitting in front of the mirror for over an hour, putting on an immaculate face of makeup. Now she was perusing her closet, picking up and discarding garments. 

“What are you getting all dolled up for?” he asked. 

“I have a date,” she said. 

She twirled back away from the closet, holding a magnificent green dress up to her torso. Her smile was brighter than he’d seen since all this had happened. 

“What do you think?” she asked, gesturing down to the dress. 

“You’ll look beautiful in anything.” 

Margo smiled at him, taking it into the bathroom to get changed. She changed swiftly, before moving back into the room to make quick work of her hair. 

“I wish I knew where Fen was taking me,” she said with a sigh. 

“Fen?” he asked, perplexed. “What about Beardy McScowly?” 

“You know he’s dating Alice. Besides, Fen is adorable.” 

“I know,” Eliot said without thinking. “I’ve met her.” 

“When did you meet her?” 

Eliot froze, remembering the incident with Fen. Margo must never find out about this. She would never let him live it down. He could be on his deathbed, and she would want to reminisce about that time he’d been diagnosed by a veterinarian. 

“Uh—just at the diner,” Eliot hedged. 

The doorbell rang. Eliot sighed in relief as Margo went to open it. There on the other side stood Fen in a periwinkle pantsuit that suited her nicely, even if it would clash slightly with Margo’s own outfit. Based on Margo’s grimace, she was thinking the same thing. 

“Hey, I know you!” Fen exclaimed. 

Eliot stumbled back, as if he could retroactively hide. When it didn’t appear to work, Eliot plastered a holier-than-thou confused look on his face, hoping it would make her drop it. 

“Yeah, Julia brought you in,” she said, turning to look at Margo. “I had the pleasure of treating your brother’s panic attack.” 

“Did you now?” Margo said, turning to Eliot with a smirk. 

Eliot crossed his arms and looked away, refusing to give her the satisfaction. 

“Well, then,” Margo said to Fen “Lead the way.” 

***

Eliot stared at the gun—shotgun? rifle?—in his hands in trepidation. He’d never held a gun before, much less fired one. Yet, here he was, gun in hand, dressed head to toe in a garish camo sweatsuit Julia had forced upon him at the crack of dawn, crouched behind some bushes with verifiable strangers. Well, he’d at least met Marina and Fogg, but there was another man here he’d never seen in his life. 

“Who is that guy?” he whispered to Julia. 

“Oh, that’s Josh,” she said. “He’s on the council with Marina and Henry.” 

“Right,” Eliot said, looking back out into the empty forest. 

All was quiet, and he was warring with relief at not having to shoot something and the unending boredom of waiting. Fogg had shushed him every time his voice had been loud enough to carry. He wasn’t sure talking to Julia was worth the telling off he’d receive from the lush of a man. 

A throaty shrill interrupted his thoughts. His spine stiffened, gun going up in preparation for what he absolutely didn’t want to do. 

“Have you ever killed before?” Marina asked from where she was crouched at his other side. 

He shook his head, throat feeling dry. 

“He’s far too delicate for something like that,” Fogg said. 

Josh laughed and Eliot pledged an undying vendetta against the man for finding pleasure in his trauma. He would pay. 

“You’ve got to hold it like it’s a newborn,” she said, demonstrating on her own weapon. “I have to admit, I’m not into babies, so it’s kind of a guessing game for me, but you get it.” 

Eliot tried to cradle the gun as she’d demonstrated, but nerves were making him clench his hands tight enough to hurt. Despite this, he looked down the barrel of his gun at the turkey. 

“It’s looking at me,” he said. 

“Shoot it,” Fogg hissed. 

Eliot looked at the turkey, hand frozen over the trigger. They were all watching him, waiting for him to kill it. Could he do it? They were still staring at him. He pulled the trigger. 

“Nice!” Josh shouted. 

He leaned past Marina to try and high five Eliot but was ignored with extreme prejudice. 

Fogg stood to go retrieve Eliot’s bird, Marina and Josh following suit. Eliot stayed crouched, frozen, until a hand touched his shoulder gently. 

“Are you okay?” Julia asked. 

“I’m a murderer.” 

“Do you think you’ll be alright?” 

Eliot couldn’t tell if she was serious. He stood up with as much dignity and poise as he could muster in this camo atrocity and offered his arm to Julia. She took it. 

“After you ply me with drinks, maybe,” he said, leading the way towards the downed turkey. 

***

Penny and Margo had been painting the other side of the fence in silence for over ten minutes before she finally snapped. 

“So, is it a normal small-town thing to end a date with a kiss on the cheek?” 

“You didn’t even get a good night kiss?” Penny asked, laughing. 

“Shut up. Is it?” 

“It sounds to me like you two lack chemistry.” 

Margo looked over at him, white paint dotting his cheek and shirt. He was smiling down at her, effortlessly cool and self-assured. 

“If a date is a success with me,” he said, not breaking eye contact, “I’ll let you know it.” 

She couldn’t look away from his intense eyes. They were frozen, weightless, locked into each other. She wanted to reach out, wipe the paint off his cheek, take off his shirt to get it off his chest, she wanted— 

The sound of an engine broke the moment, stopped Margo from doing whatever she was going to do. And then there was Fen, in her powder blue Volkswagen, smiling out of the driver’s side window. 

“I thought you’d like a real smoothie,” Fen said. 

Her eyes were bright, and she looked beautiful as she held a berry-red container out for Margo to take. She grabbed it, took a sip, and then bent down to kiss Fen, gentle but firm, right on her lips. 

“You can finish up, right?” she asked Penny but didn’t wait for an answer or look back as she jumped into the passenger seat. 

***

Laying in bed that night, Margo couldn’t stop thinking about Penny, or the kiss, or this town. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to feel. 

“I made out with Fen,” she told Eliot. 

“I shot a turkey,” he replied. 

“Stop one-upping me like that!” she demanded. “Really, a turkey?” 

“Really really.” 

“Huh.” 


	7. The Noisy Neighbors

Eliot woke up to someone screaming. He put his pillow over his head, trying desperately to drown it out and go back to sleep. It didn’t work. He got up to look out the window. There stood two of the trashiest people he’d ever seen. And he lived in Schitt’s Creek now, so that was saying something. The woman held a car seat in her hand, the baby within it wailing as she threw a glass bottle towards the man. It landed at his feet and exploded. Cue further screaming between the pair.

“What is happening?” Margo asked, sounding half asleep. 

“Some townie douchebags are moving in next door,” he said. 

He continued looking out the window. There would be many sleepless nights in his future. Of that, Eliot was sure. Margo groaned pitifully, before joining him by the window. They stared in rapt silence, side by side. Contemplating their future doom. 

“Well, I’m out,” she said. 

“What do you mean you're out?” he demanded. 

Margo turned around, pulling her suitcase from under her bed and began half-heartedly flinging garments into it. Eliot watched in perplexed fury. 

“I mean, I’m going to stay at Fen’s until they leave.” 

“And leave me here, all alone?” 

Margo turned back to him, hands on her hips as she smiled up at him beatifically. 

“It’s not my fault you haven’t found a man.” 

Eliot hated her with every fiber of his being. He turned back to the window with a huff. The pair were now unpacking the car, still screaming at each other. The woman accidentally stepped on some of the glass she had thrown, and immediately started yelling at the man, as if it was his fault it was there. God, how in the ever-loving-fuck was he going to survive this? 

***

Eliot walked into the lobby, ready to give Julia a piece of his mind. She wasn’t there. This had never happened to him before. He stormed up to the counter and slammed his hand on the bell. It didn’t make a sound, but it did dig sharply into his palm. He pushed it once more, gentler, before giving up. 

“Julia?” he called, peering over the counter into the back room, hidden by a partially closed door. 

“Yeah?” she asked. 

Eliot jumped, whirling around. There she was, standing right behind him, eyes twinkling. God, why was everyone around him such an unmitigated asshole? 

“Don’t do that!” he snapped. 

“Do what?” she asked. 

She circled around him to lean casually against the counter, eyes absolutely sparkling. Eliot glared. She just continued to blink up at him innocently. He cleared his throat, straightened his posture, and regained all the dignity he possessed. Which was a lot, thank you very much. 

“An extremely uncouth couple of people are currently moving in next door,” he said breezily. 

“And?” Julia asked. 

“And I’d like them removed. They’re being rather abrasive.” 

“Oh, you would, would you?” 

“Verily.” 

“I’d love to,” she said, patting his arm. “Unfortunately, one of them is my cousin.” 

Julia walked past him to flop gracelessly onto the couch as all energy seemingly left her. Eliot dropped his haughty airs as he sat much more delicately next to her and awkwardly patted her shoulder. 

“Bad luck of the draw,” he said. 

“You’re telling me.” 

“And there’s nothing you can do to remove them?” 

“Afraid not.” 

***

Fen’s apartment was as eccentric as her fashion sense. Margo gazed around, trying to decide if she was charmed by the clashing colors and patterns or appalled. The walls were covered in light pink flowered wallpaper. The wall opposite the atrocious lime green couch was almost completely colored with clashing watercolors of flowers. I plain white coffee table sat in front of the couch. Upon it sat a stack of magazines, a collected book of poems, and a basket full of brightly colored balls of yarn, knitting needles sticking out of the top of what looked like a half-finished scarf placed at the top. Three different colored pastel lamps sat at various places around the room, lighting it up further. An antique-looking white dining room table was shoved into a little nook to the side, next to an outdated looking kitchen. 

Margo looked over at Fen, who was smiling brightly at her as she took it all in and made a conscious decision to be charmed. 

“Nice place you’ve got here,” she said. 

She sauntered over to where Fen was standing and put her hands firmly on her hips, reeling her in. Margo was slightly taller than Fen in her wedged heels, and she relished the unexpected angle. Fen’s lips tasted like strawberries. Margo cradled her hand in the back of Fen’s loose hair, pulling her further in until their bodies were close enough to feel all of the other woman. She let her hand drift from the back of Fen’s head, down her side, past her hip, and—something licked her. 

Margo jumped back with a surprised shriek to find a ridiculous looking dog staring up at her. Its tongue wagged out impossibly long, tail wagging so ferociously, it looked actually painful. Most freakishly, its entire torso was shaved. 

“Oh,” Fen exclaimed, looking excited. “Meet Fish. He’s here while he heals from his surgery, aren’t you boy?” 

She bent down, scratching behind his ear with a bright smile. Margo stared at the thing, horrified. 

“And you should meet Baby, too!” Fen said. 

She practically skipped over to what was presumably her bedroom, returning with a tiny dog with an even tinier cone around his head. 

“He’s just been neutered, so he needs to heal up a bit before I give him back to the shelter,” she said. “Do you want to pet him?” 

Fen was patting the dogs back, a bright smile on her face, and Margo was pretty sure she might be dying. 

Margo walked over tentatively, holding her hand out to barely brush Baby’s back in a stroking motion. She grimaced as the scratchy fur rubbed her hand. 

“I don’t have much experience with animals,” Margo said, voice an octave higher than usual. 

“Well, that’s okay, silly! You’re never too late to learn!” 

Margo thought of Eliot suffering with those trashy new neighbors back at the hotel, and almost wished she were right there with him. 

***

“Excuse me,” Margo called after Alice’s retreating back. “You brought Fen the wrong side.” 

Alice turned around, looking mortified. 

“I’m so sorry, did I?” she asked anxiously. 

“Yes. She asked for onion rings and you brought her french fries,” Margo replied. 

“It’s fine,” Fen said, holding her hands out in supplication. “I like fries.” 

Fen grabbed a fry, as if to prove her point, and ate it with a smile. Margo was cranky from the early wakeup call, from the continuous presence of those godforsaken fleabags. She just wanted something today to go right. 

“That’s not the point,” Margo argued, turning back to Fen. “That’s not what you ordered. You deserve to get what you want.” 

“Really, it’s fine. I want the fries,” Fen said to Margo before turning back to Alice. “Really, Alice. Don’t worry about it.” 

Alice nodded, smiling uncomfortably before shuffling back to the kitchen. Margo felt like she’d been snubbed. First, the dogs came before her, now the waitress. Where did it end? 

“I’m just trying to help,” she grumbled. 

“I know,” Fen said, reaching across the table to put her hand on top of Margo’s. 

Margo took a spiteful bite of her salad, glaring down at the plate. Today was not a good day. 

***

They were supposed to be fixing city council’s front door. Penny was awkwardly trying to arrange the door correctly so he could screw the hinges back in place while Margo stared off in the distance, eyes vacant. Penny dropped the door, frustrated with the lack of help in what was clearly a two-person job. 

“You do know just staring at the door isn’t going to help me fix it, right?” he asked. 

“Sorry,” she said. 

At that, Penny couldn’t help the curl of worry that filled him. He’d never heard Margo apologize. As far as he could tell, she didn’t even know the word. 

“What’s up, princess?” he asked, faux casually. 

“I’m just thinking about Fen,” she said, gaze still faraway. 

Penny felt his shoulders droop at Fen’s name. Of course, she’d been thinking about Fen. What else would she be thinking about? 

“She’s just so nice, you know?” Margo asked, but nice sounded like a derogatory term coming from her. “Like right now, she’s got two dogs living with her because they’re injured and don’t have anywhere else to go. That’s so nice, right?” 

“You think it’s annoying,” Penny said in satisfaction. 

“No!” she argued, before pausing. “Well, yes, but there’s a difference between being nice and not standing up for what you want. Like just today, Alice brought her the wrong food, and she didn’t even complain. She just ate it, insisting that it was what she wanted. That’s weird right?” 

At his girlfriend’s name, Penny felt a pang of uneasy guilt. He turned away from Margo, focusing on the door once more, just like he should have been all along. 

“I never return food,” he said. “I think that’s so rude.” 

***

It was past midnight, and Eliot was trying to sleep. Unfortunately for him, the raucous music and stomping feet from the room next door were all he could focus on. It’d been going on for over two hours, and he was going insane. Finally, he sprung up in bed and got dressed to go over there and get them to turn the music down before he killed them all. 

He banged on their door, three loud raps of his enraged fist, but no one answered. After only a moment’s hesitation, he swung the door open. The room was bursting with drunk morons dancing and shouting at one another. He spotted the man, Julia’s cousin, and stormed over. 

“Excuse me!” he shouted. “Could you turn the music down?” 

“Hey, buttons!” the man shouted, gesturing at Eliot’s button-up silk black shirt. “I don’t think you were invited to this one.” 

He tried to sling his arm around Eliot’s shoulders congenially, but Eliot slapped the offending appendage away. 

“Just turn it down,” he snarled, storming towards the door. 

But then there Julia was, crammed onto a couch with four other people, laughing drunkenly. Her eyes widened when she saw Eliot coming over and stumbled drunkenly up. She dropped her cup, the contents splashing her shoes as she held up her hands placatingly. 

“Sorry,” she slurred. “They got me—got me wasted.” 

She raised her hand to her mouth and leaned in like a child telling a secret. Eliot placatingly leaned towards her until her hand met his jawline. 

“I hate them so much.” 

She removed her hand, looking very pleased with herself as she swayed on her feet, looking dangerously close to falling down. 

“You smell very flammable right now.” 

Julia just nods, bends down to pick up her cup, almost falls over, and then tries to drink from it. Eliot rolls his eyes. 

“Just get them to turn down the music, would you?” he asked, turning back towards the front door. 

“I’m so sorry,” she said again. 

The music didn’t stop until well after four in the morning. Eliot was going to murder Julia, the entire room of partygoers, and Margo for good measure. But not until well into tomorrow afternoon. He was far too tired right now. 

***

The lights were low in Fen’s room, just one lamp at the entrance lighting the room. Margo leaned her head back, feeling Fen’s teeth bight down on her neck and groaned. She pulled Fen down onto her, weight settling atop her just so, Fen’s knee slipping between her legs. Fen bit down her neck, licked a stripe down her clavicle that made Margo jump. She bit down on Margo’s bra, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this turned on. She threw her head to the side as Fen bit down at her nipple, and—

Fish was staring at her. Margo stiffened. She pulled at Fen’s hair, turning her head towards the dog sitting by the bed, looking pleased as punch at the show. 

“He’s staring at us,” Margo whispered. 

“Oh, he’s just lonely. Go lay down, Fish!” Fen commanded. 

Fish did not move. Fen went back to her ministrations. Margo couldn’t focus on them, too busy glaring at Fish. Fen slid down down down, licking a stripe across her stomach. She almost forgot about the dog, but then she heard the pitter-patter of claws on hardwood floor and looked over to see Baby now seated right next to Fish, staring directly into her eyes. 

“No, sorry, I can’t.” Margo said, pulling Fen up once more. “Not with them staring at us.” 

“Oh, okay,” Fen said, eyebrows raised in surprise. 

Her face was flushed, whether in embarrassment or from their previous activities, Margo couldn’t tell. She got up, ushering the reluctant dogs out of the room, and closing the door. 

“We can just let them back in when we’re done,” Fen said, smiling. 

“No,” Margo snapped. “We are not sleeping with those—those mutts.” 

Fen looked surprised, hurt even, at her words. Margo wanted to swallow them back down but didn’t take it back. 

“Okay,” Fen said, not meeting her eyes. “That’s fine.” 

They didn’t continue their previous activities, instead going to bed, awkwardly silent and not touching. Margo felt like she was going to scream. 

***

Eliot found Julia cleaning their neighbors’ room late the next afternoon, looking pale and a little sickly. The door was already open, so he knocked on the frame before letting himself into the otherwise vacant room. She smiled up at him halfheartedly, before going back to sweeping up broken pieces of a light bulb. 

“What are you doing?” he asked. 

“I’ve been reliably informed that much of the destruction you see before you was mine,” she said, gesturing around the room with the handle of the broom. 

“Ah, not surprising with how drunk you were.” 

“Who told you?” she demanded. 

“You did,” he said, smiling at her wide eyes. “Yeah, we had a full-blown conversation while you barely clung to consciousness.” 

“Sorry,” she said, looking back down at her task. 

Eliot swore he saw a blush on her cheeks and found himself charmed by the woman he could tentatively call a friend, at least in his own head. 

“I didn’t try to make out with you, did I?” she asked, still not making eye contact with him. 

“What? No.” 

“Good,” she said with a nod. “Although now I’m a little worried I made out with someone else. It’s kind of my go-to move when I’m a little boozy.” 

“Mine’s shame eating, so yours sounds much more fun.” 

He moved over to the bed, grabbing empty cups and throwing them into the trash can next to it. Julia smiled at him gratefully, so he continued. He’d just picked up the pillowcase to slip it back on the pillow when he saw it: a Ziplock baggie full-to-bursting with weed. 

“Look what we have here,” Eliot said, holding up the bag for her to see. 

She looked at it, eyes wide, before looking back at him, a mischievous grin blooming across her face. 

“I’m in, if you are,” she said. 

Eliot went to close and lock the door, smiling. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

***

Fen had made them both breakfast. The table was set with fresh coffee, enough waffles to feed twice as many people, fresh strawberries, and syrup. Fen had even put a daisy in a little vase as the centerpiece. It wasn’t there before. Margo wondered where it came from as she picked at her food. The silence was still suffocating, even as Fen prattled on about what they should do that day. 

“I need to drop by work, but then I think maybe we should go see a movie? I mean, only if you want to, of course. But I think—” 

“I’m sorry,” Margo blurted out, interrupting her. 

They met eyes, Fen looking startled. Margo stared down at her fork, fiddling with it uncomfortably. 

“You’re just the first nice person I’ve ever dated,” she finally said. “I’m not used to it.” 

Fen didn’t say anything at first, and Margo could feel her shoulders hunching in trepidation, but forced them down. She was a goddamn queen and wouldn’t act like a shrinking violet, even if she felt like one. She finally looked up and Fen was smiling. 

“I’m not _that_ nice,” Fen said. 

Margo laughed, part humor and part relief at the break in tension. 

“Oh, yeah? Prove it,” she said. “Say something mean.” 

“What?” Fen said. “I mean, I can’t just—” 

“Come on,” Margo wheedled. “Think of it as roleplay. 

Fen looked down at her hands where they were curled around her mug of coffee, eyebrows furrowed in thought. 

“Well,” she started hesitantly. “Your brother can be a little dramatic sometimes.” 

“Yes!” Margo said. “He can!” 

“And—and Alice is a little awkward, don’t you think?” 

“She really is,” Margo said, smiling. 

“And you’re a little mean,” Fen said. 

Margo frowned, suddenly done with this game. But then Fen reached her hand over the table and linked fingers with her. The warmth from her coffee cup bled into Margo’s cold hand. 

“But that’s okay,” Fen said, smiling “Because I like that you’re mean.” 

Margo smiled right back, giving her hand a little squeeze. 

***

Julia was laying across the bed, head hanging off one end. Eliot sat beside it, head flopped back onto the mattress next to hers as he looked up at the ceiling. He turned his head to the side, to look at Julia, but couldn’t tell what she was thinking behind the sunglasses she’d shoved on after finding them in the depths of the bed. Eliot himself was sporting a ball cap with the word emblazoned in all caps across the front. He couldn’t remember why he’d put it on. 

“Do you know where I got my hat, bro?” he asked her. 

She tilted her head towards him, and Eliot took that as question enough. 

“Assholes R’ Us.” 

And just like that, Julia lost it, she curled into a ball around his shoulders as she howled with laughter. Eliot felt tears streaming down his face as he laughed right along with her. Her head slowly drifted farther off the bed, until she was falling down next to him, ass in the air, neck at an awkward angle as she struggled to control her giggles long enough to right herself. Eliot pulled her hand, but yanked her the wrong way, making her foot connect with his face. It was all so unbelievably funny. 

But then, a car door slammed, and there was shouting outside. The residents of this very room must be back. And just like that, Eliot was panicking. 

“Oh my god,” he said, voice as quiet as he could make it. “We need to go! We need to go! We need to go!” 

He yanked Julia up off the ground. She was still laughing but dutifully dug into her pocket to get the keys to the door adjoining their two rooms. It took her three tries to find the right one. She was practically vibrating with giggles, but Eliot couldn’t stop shooting looks at the front door, as if the hounds of hell themselves might walk through at any moment. 

Finally, they made it through, shutting the door just as they heard the other one open. Julia shoved her face into Eliot’s shoulder, muffling her laughter. 

“Where the fuck is my hat?” the man demanded. 

Eliot pulled his uncooperative hand up to his head, feeling it still perched on his head. He shook Julia off of him so she could see. 

“I’m wearing it,” he whispered. “I’m wearing it!” 

And suddenly, it was all so ridiculously funny again. They collapsed together laughing uproariously. Eliot barely even cared if their treachery was discovered. They shuffled to Eliot’s own bed, collapsing onto his bed to giggle some more. Julia wriggled under the covers and promptly fell asleep. Eliot reached into the nightstand to find Margo’s stash of dark chocolate. All was well. 

***

“What happened to your face?” Margo asked. 

“Julia kicked me.” 

Margo’s eyes narrowed as she examined what was shaping up to be a bit of a black eye. She calmed at Eliot's smile. He looked so pleased with himself. 

“Huh,” she said, as she patted his cheek. “I always knew I liked her.” 

“Sure, you did,” Eliot replied. “Don’t think I’ve forgiven you for ditching me in this hellhole.” 

“Would it make you feel better to know I was cockblocked by two dogs far too ugly for even the most doddering old lady to love?” she asked. 

By his laughter, she’s assumed it did. 


	8. The Breakup

Margo sat on the floor in the little nook between her bed and Eliot’s, with her feet propped up on his pillow. When he finally noticed, Eliot yanked it from beneath her with a violent tug.

“Don’t put your dirty shoes on my pillow.” 

“Fine, whatever,” Margo said. 

She was still looking down at her phone, and Eliot could see a twitter feed slowly scrolling by. While she wasn’t paying attention, he put his now-soiled pillow on her bed and placed Margo’s on his, far away from her feet. 

“So, Fen wants to meet some of my friends,” Margo said. 

“And?” 

“And she wants to have a party.” 

“No,” Eliot said. “I’m not wasting my evening surrounded by a bunch of drunk people I don’t even know.” 

“Please, Eliot,” she said. “It’s really important to her. You can bring Julia.” 

Margo was now looking up at him, puppy-dog eyes in full effect, phone still clutched in her hand. Eliot sighed, defeated. 

“Fine,” he said. 

“It’ll be fun,” she said. “It’s at Fen’s place at eight. If you’re late, I’ll kill you.” 

***

They’d been washing Fogg’s car for ten minutes now, and Penny hadn’t said anything. It was driving her crazy, frankly. She’d tried to start a few conversations, but he’d just grunted and continued to wipe down the car. 

“You’re quiet today,” she said finally, hoping the direct approach would get him talking. 

“So?” 

“It’s just you’re not talking, and it’s annoying because I’m bored.” 

Penny dropped the sponge back into the bucket of soapy water, crossed his arms broodingly, and glared down at the car. 

“Do we always have to talk?” he asked. 

“If you don’t want me to go insane, yes,” Margo replied. 

Penny sighed, long and slow, as if it was the biggest burden in the world to be within her presence. Margo was a little stung, but quickly forget it when he started talking. 

“I’ve just been having these dreams,” he started haltingly. “Do you think it counts as cheating if it happens in a dream?” 

He still hadn’t looked up at her. Margo felt her heart flutter at his words, but pushed it back down, where she wouldn’t have to analyze it. 

“Of course not,” she said. “You can’t control that shit.” 

“I feel kind of bad,” he said, finally looking back up at her. “Because of Alice, you know?” 

“Right, of course.” 

They descended back into silence. Penny picked the sponge back up out of the bucket and began furiously scrubbing the windshield. Margo retrieved her own sponge and took a few leisurely scrubs at the hood. 

“You two should come to me and Fen’s party tonight,” she said. 

“Do you really think that’s such a good idea?” 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” 

***

“Welcome!” Fen said, opening the door and ushering them inside. 

Eliot pushed Julia in first and then followed her into the weirdest fucking apartment he’d ever seen. There were decorations absolutely everywhere, and everything within it was just so loud. He stared, shocked that this was somewhere Margo willingly hung out. But then he looked over at Fen’s bright blue overalls and pink flowered button-up and, yeah, that made sense, actually. 

“Nice place you have here,” Julia said. 

“Thank you!” Fen said enthusiastically. 

Margo was lounging on the couch, filing her nails. And that’s about when Eliot realized that there was no one else there. 

“Are we the first ones here?” he asked Fen. 

“Yeah! We’re just waiting on Alice and Penny now.” 

Eliot whirled around, pointing accusingly at Margo, but she didn’t even look up from her nails. 

“I thought you said this was a party?” he asked. 

“It is,” she said, tone sounding smug to Eliot’s ears. “It’s a dinner party.” 

A dinner party. A goddamn dinner party, with Margo, her lover, her lumberjack crush, and his girlfriend. He turned to Julia, eyes frantic. But she clearly hadn’t realized what was happening. She was still looking around the room in something damn-near awe. 

The doorbell rang, and that’s what got Margo to spring up from the couch. She walked to the door, throwing it wide to beckon Penny and Alice inside. 

“Where’s everyone else?” Penny asked. 

Eliot gestured emphatically at him, glaring at Margo, but she pointedly ignored him. 

“It was always just a small dinner party,” she said. “Now, come on, or dinner will get cold.” 

***

No one was talking. By this point, even Penny was fidgeting uncomfortably as he ate his spaghetti. 

“So, Penny, did you two criminals do any good in the community today?” Fen asked, smiling. 

“Cleaned a car,” he said. 

“Wow, you both truly are philanthropists,” Eliot said from his left, and suddenly Penny hated him. 

“What do you two talk about out there all day?” Fen asked, still smiling. 

“Nothing,” Margo rushed out. 

God, that sounded suspicious. 

“Like what?” Fen persisted. 

Penny didn’t know what to say, so he took the biggest bite of spaghetti he possibly could and pointed to his mouth for an excuse not to answer. Fen turned away from him to look at Margo with quizzical eyes. 

“Well, like today Penny was having a bad day, so we talked about that,” Margo said. 

That was worse than anything Penny would have said, without a doubt. He glanced over at Alice. She was looking down at her plate, eyebrows drawn together. That wasn’t good. He turned back to his spaghetti, taking another big bite. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a bad day?” she asked. 

He swallowed his spaghetti and took a sip of his water, before clearing his throat. 

“It just wasn’t that big of a deal,” he said. 

Alice put her fork down. The clank of metal on porcelain made him wince. He looked around at everyone else, hoping desperately for a lifeline, but Fen was still smiling kindly, Eliot was smiling much less kindly, Julia wasn’t looking at him at all, and Margo would only make it worse. He took another bite of spaghetti. 

“Oh,” she said, voice quiet and sad. 

And that was worse, much worse than mad. He still couldn’t think of anything to say. 

***

Alice felt like everyone was staring at her, judging her for how badly she was doing with this whole relationship thing. She never seemed to get it right. It was like playing a game where she only been given half the rules, if that. Why did everyone else seem to have this innate knowledge of what to say, and how to act, and she was just…floundering? She just wanted it to work, it was supposed to work, wasn’t it? 

Penny was her best friend, and even with him, it felt like she was desperately grasping it straws, trying to build even a shabby semblance of what a relationship was supposed to look like. But it all came crashing down around her. She’d fuck up, they’d break up, she’d miss him, they’d get back together. Rinse and repeat. If she couldn’t make it work with Penny, what would happen to her? Was she destined to spend the rest of her life, fumbling through relationship after relationship, never quite getting it right? Alice just wanted it to fucking work. 

“I didn’t mean it like that, Alice,” Margo said. “I just mean he was questioning things.” 

Alice looked up at Penny. His face was blank as he took a drink of his water, not meeting her eyes. 

“What were you questioning?” she asked. 

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. 

“I just don’t know why you didn’t feel comfortable talking to me about it,” she said. 

“Like I said, it wasn’t important,” he said. “That’s why I was talking to Margo about it.” 

“So, Fen, where did you get those lovely paintings?” Julia asked. 

Alice looked back down at her plate, feeling smaller than she maybe ever had. 

“Oh, I get them at the thrift shop!” Fen said brightly. 

“Fascinating,” Julia said, voice not at all fascinated. 

Alice just wished she could leave. Let the rest of them enjoy their food in peace. She just wanted to be alone. 

***

Fen wanted the evening to go well. She wanted to get to know Margo’s friend, and she really wanted them to like her. But, so far, Eliot had mostly been making snide comments, Alice and Penny were clearly in a domestic spat, and Margo wasn’t really helping matters. At least Julia had talked to her, but Fen got the feeling that Julia was more Eliot’s friend then Margo’s. 

“So, what else do you two talk about?” Fen asked, trying desperately to restart the conversation. 

“Oh my god, Fen,” Margo snapped. “We just washed a car and talked about bad dreams, okay?” 

“You sound a little defensive there,” Eliot said. 

She did sound a little defensive, but Fen just wanted to have a good party. 

“Alright,” she said, forcing on a smile. “Does anyone want some dessert? I made strawberry rhubarb pie.” 

“Actually, I have an early check-in tomorrow,” Julia said, standing up. “So, I think I’d better head out.” 

“You never have early check-ins,” Eliot said. 

“Well, tomorrow, I do,” she said. “Do you mind walking me home?” 

Eliot stood as well. 

“Let me walk you to the door,” Fen said, trying to keep her smile in place. 

Julia and Eliot kept sending shifty gazes at each other, and Fen had a sinking feeling that they just wanted to leave. She opened the door for them, smile slightly tight. 

“Thank you both for coming,” she said. 

“The pleasure was all ours,” Eliot said with a bow that felt mocking. 

Fen only felt slightly better about the whole thing when Julia elbowed him hard enough to make him wince. She shut the door and turned around to the three silent people still seated around the dining room table, not making eye contact with one another. She was starting to regret throwing this party altogether. With a sigh, she went to retrieve the pie from the kitchen. 

***

“Thank god we’re out of there,” Julia said, sighing. “That was tenser than my high school prom.” 

“Your prom was that bad?” Eliot asked. 

“You’re not quite up to the level where you get to hear my tragic backstory yet,” she said. 

Eliot laughed and lit a cigarette. Julia spun around on the sidewalk, arms thrown in the air. She felt jubilant at their daring escape. That had been one of the most uncomfortable nights of her life. She was so goddamn happy to be free. 

“Thanks for springing me, too,” Eliot said, linking his arm with hers and pulling her along with him. 

“Obviously,” she said. “it’s not safe for a pretty thing like me out her late at night in a rough city like this.” 

She pretended to faint into him, arm pressed to her forehead in the classic fainting pose of damsels in distress everywhere, but only managed to send them both stumbling as Eliot tried to keep his feet underneath him. 

“Stop that,” he said, but he was laughing. 

“Whatever would I do without your most manly protection?” she asked, batting her eyelashes his way. 

“As if you couldn’t beat me up whenever you wanted,” Eliot said. 

“Well, I do declare. That would be quite unladylike of me,” she said. “Now, come on, I have chocolate cake at home that’s calling my name.” 

With that Julia ran off into the night, laughing. And to her utmost amusement, she could hear Eliot running after her. 

***

“You strike me as the sort of person who had a hard time in high school.” 

Eliot looked up from the ice cream he was perusing, startled to find Zelda there next to him, arms held up delicately at her sides. 

“Thank you,” he said. 

“I have this new student, Rupert, and he’s struggling with the new environment,” Zelda said. 

Eliot nodded, still confused. 

“I thought you two could maybe bond over being new in town,” she said. “As well as the fact that he is currently undergoing a crisis of sexuality.” 

“Ah,” Eliot said, finally understanding. “You know that just because I’m gay, that doesn’t mean I have some hidden inner wisdom, right?” 

“Yes, but I have no other option,” she said. 

Eliot was horrified at the thought of talking to such a young impressionable kid, but he couldn’t figure out a good enough excuse to get out of it. Especially with Zelda right there, staring at him with those unnerving eyes that always seemed like they were reading him. 

“The idea of me life coaching another human being should scare you,” Eliot said. “A lot.” 

“Excellent!” Zelda said. “Come by the school around three tomorrow, won’t you?” 

She walked away before he could respond. Fuck. He was really going to need that ice cream now. 

***

Margo and Penny were back on trash duty. She hated trash duty. They found some frankly disgusting things and Penny couldn’t always be counted on to pick it up for her. 

“Today marks the longest relationship I’ve ever been in,” Margo announced into this silence. 

“Really?” Penny asked. “How long has it been?” 

“Three weeks.” 

“Wow,” Penny said, laughing. “Congratulations, I guess.” 

“How about you and Alice, how are you two doing?” 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. 

“Come on,” Margo said, punching his arm lightly. “You can talk to me.” 

“It feels—it feels like it’s run its course,” he said. “And I think we’ve both known it for a while. 

“Oh.” 

He nodded, skewering another piece of trash on his stick. Margo watched him for another minute, feeling sad and hopeful all at once. She pushed it back down, where she wouldn’t have to think about it, and skewered a plastic bag, dropping it into the trash. They were quiet after that. 

***

The kid was looking down at his shoes in sullen silence when Eliot walked into the room. He briefly considered leaving right there and then, but the kid looked up at him, and it was too late. 

“Rupert, right?” he asked. 

He nodded but didn’t say anything. Eliot decided that the only thing to do was to start talking. 

“Your teacher asked me to come talk to you,” he said. “That maybe you were having some trouble adjusting, trouble fitting in.” 

At that, the kid full-on glared at him. Eliot resisted the urge to take a step back. 

“I’m a sixteen-year-old kid living in a town that makes me want to throw up,” Rupert said. “The issue isn’t me fitting in. It’s me not wanting to fit in.” 

“So, you don’t need any help with anything?” Eliot asked. 

“Look at your outfit, dude. Focus on your own life.” 

Eliot looked down at his outfit. He was currently wearing a poufy white pirate shirt tucked into a pair of black trousers. He looked up at the kid, glaring. 

“Okay, I think my work here is done,” Eliot said. 

He awkwardly clapped his hands before turning towards the door. He’d almost reached it when he sighed and turned back around. 

“You’re going to be okay, right?” Eliot asked. “You’re stable?” 

“I’m fine,” he replied. “But if you really want to do something for me, you could buy me some beer.” 

“Hmm,” Eliot said, rubbing his chin in faux thought. “How about no?” 

He left at that, ignoring the kid’s complaints. 

***

Margo had been at the diner for twenty minutes now, drinking coffee at the counter and trying to get the nerve to talk to Alice. 

“Everything all right?” Alice asked. 

“Yes,” Margo said. “But I wanted to apologize for the other night.” 

“Oh, you don’t need to do that.” 

Alice looked at her feet as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Margo felt her gut clench in premature sympathy. 

“No, it is,” she said. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like Penny and I have some sort of close bond because we don’t.” 

“You don’t?” Alice asked, still looking at her feet. 

“No,” she said. “Half the time, he only caveman grunts in my direction.” 

Alice laughed, but it sounded a little watery. 

“He does that to me, too,” Alice said. 

She looked up at Margo with a blinding smile, but Margo thought her eyes looked a little watery. 

“Men, am I right?” Margo asked. 

“Yeah,” Alice said, voice small and tight once more. “I just want to make it work, you know?” she asked. 

“I think—” Margo started, then stopped. “I think you should talk to him before you make any big plans, okay?” 

“Why?” Alice asked, voice suddenly sharper than Margo had ever heard it. 

“I just think you should talk to him.” 

“Oh, okay,” Alice said, voice breaking. 

Margo felt lower than dirt as Alice shuffled off to help another customer. She set a ten-dollar tip on the counter and left. She’d done enough damage for the night. 

***

Alice saw Eliot and Julia walk into the diner the next night, and immediately intercepted them. 

“Come sit at the bar today,” she said. 

They both followed obediently, but Alice saw them exchange confused looks. She didn’t elaborate, just mixed three gin and tonics, before passing them around. 

“What are we celebrating?” Julia asked. 

“Well, some snippy teen told me I needed to get my life together,” Eliot said. 

“And I am now a single person,” Alice said lifting her glass to clink against theirs. 

She took a big swig of her drink, but Julia and Eliot were both just staring at her. 

“Come on,” she said. “We’re celebrating.” 

“Are—are you okay?” Julia asked. 

“Yes!” Alice said, already feeling a buzz. “I’m just celebrating being alone for the rest of my life.” 

Alice was going to miss Penny. She wished breaking up didn’t mean she wouldn’t get to see him anymore. She’d be fine with losing everything else, the sex, the romance, all of it. She could live without it. But Penny was her friend, and it just wasn’t fair that she had to let go of that, too. 

“Don’t say that,” Eliot said, patting her hand where it lay atop the bar. 

Alice looked down at it, surprised. She’d only ever seen him comfort Julia like that. It was that simple touch, that tiny bit of kindness that did her in. Suddenly, tears were streaming down her face. 

“If I can’t even make it work with my best friend, how will it ever?” she asked. 

No one answered, but Eliot did squeeze her hand underneath his. 

“I just really wanted it to work.” 

“It’ll be okay,” Julia said. 

Julia picked up her glass, nudging Eliot to do so as well. At Julia’s pointed looks, Alice picked hers up. 

“To a fresh start,” Julia said. 

They all three clinked glasses and downed their drinks. Alice smiled at them both. It was watery and strained, but the first honest one she could remember giving in a long time. 


	9. Town for Sale

Eliot woke up to Margo shrieking. He jumped out of bed, terrified, only to see her jumping up and down in apparent joy.

“What the fuck?” Eliot asked. 

“We’re getting out, Eliot!” she screamed. “We’re getting out!” 

“What?” he asked, sleep still muddling his brain. 

“I just got off the phone with a buyer,” she said. “He’s going to buy the town!” 

“Oh my god,” Eliot said. “Bambi, we’re getting out?” 

“We’re getting out!” 

“Oh my god!” 

He rushed over to the mini-fridge and pulled a cheap bottle of champagne free with a blinding grin. 

“Now, this is a cause for celebration.” 

He popped the cork, not even caring as the champagne flowed down his arm. He took a swig directly from the bottle before passing it to Margo. She took it, swallowing a quarter of the bottle down. 

“I’m going to pack!” Margo exclaimed. 

Eliot follows her lead, grabbing his suitcase from under the bed and carefully folding his clothing into it, a stark contrast to Margo’s half-hazard packing. 

“I cannot wait to get to the beach,” Margo said. 

“What?” Eliot asked. 

“Yeah, I’m going to st. Barths with a few old friends.” 

“I thought you didn’t talk to those people anymore.” 

“Well, now I do,” Margo said. “What are you going to do?” 

“Well, I’m going to go to New York and see some people.” 

“Oh, fun,” Margo said, still smiling radiantly at the prospect of getting out of there. 

“You should come to New York when you’re done,” Eliot said. “We could get a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, and not have to live in Brooklyn.” 

“Honestly Eliot, when we get out of here, I’m going to get my own place,” she said. “I just think we do better with a little space, you know?” 

“No, yeah, that makes much more sense,” he said. 

He looked down at the shirt he was holding and felt nothing. With all that money, he could finally get back to his old life. He could find all of his old friends. They hadn’t responded to his texts since he’d moved here, but he could go find them in person. He continued to pack but by then, all he felt was numb. 

***

Fen smiled at Margo as she walked into the clinic. Margo looked radiant, like she was glowing. Fen rushed to kiss her. Margo had never visited her at work before, and Fen couldn’t stop smiling. 

“So,” Margo said, averting her eyes. “We’re selling the town.” 

“Wow! Okay, and—”

“And we’re leaving,” Margo interrupted. 

“We’re leaving?” Fen asked, confused. 

“Well, Eliot and I are leaving.” 

“Oh,” Fen said. “Oh, well okay, in that case here.” 

She bent over digging through her desk drawer until she found a ring box nestled all the way at the bottom. It was a classic cut diamond with a silver band. Fen hoped Margo would like it. She hoped even more that Margo would say yes. She went down on one knee and looked up into Margo’s beautiful wide eyes. 

“So, I was planning on doing this over a candle-lit dinner, but will you marry me?” 

Margo stared at her in silence. Doubt crept in the longer Margo didn’t answer. Fen just stayed down on one knee, and hoped with all her heart, she’d say yes. 

“Oh, yes,” Margo said. 

Fen smiled, bright and true. She wasn’t sure she’d ever felt this happy. 

“If I was staying, then yes,” Margo continued. “A thousand times yes.” 

“So, is that a no?” 

“Yes?” Margo said, looking away from her. 

Fen looked down at the ring in her hands and willed the tears from her eyes. Margo was leaving. There wasn’t anything she could do about it. She just needed to pull herself together, and be strong, for Margo’s sake. 

“Oh,” Fen said, unable to manage anything else as she felt like everything came tumbling down around her. 

***

Eliot caught Julia as she was leaving the lobby. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards their customary smoking chairs. 

“I need to talk to you,” Eliot said. 

Eliot pushed her into one of the chairs and settled himself in the other. 

“So—that is to say, I—” he floundered. 

“Just spit it out,” Julia said. 

He pushed down his nerves and took the plunge. 

“We’re selling the town” he said. “We’re leaving.” 

“Oh,” Julia said. “Where are you going?” 

Eliot looked over at her. She was staring fixedly at her knees, plucking at the rip there, further loosening the threads. 

“New York.” 

She nodded but didn’t say anything—didn’t look up. 

“Come with me,” he said. 

She snapped her head up, looking at him with wide eyes. 

“You’re fucking with me,” she said. 

“No,” he said. “Come with me.” 

“I don’t even know what I’d do there.” 

“Just watch a season of Girls and do the opposite of that. It’s easy.” 

She laughed, and Eliot felt the pervading numbness fade away. 

“You have this whole like life there with all these fancy friends,” Julia said, picking at her pants again. “I feel like I’d get lost in the mix.” 

“You wouldn’t,” he reassured. “You’re coming. Pack your shit. You’re coming.” 

She didn’t disagree. Eliot felt a weight leave his chest. Maybe he wouldn’t have to be alone after all. He’d have Julia. 

***

Penny opened the door to the barn and was surprised to see Margo standing on the other side, hand raised in preparation for a knock. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked. 

“I just wanted to tell you that we’re leaving,” she said. 

“Leaving?” he asked. 

“Yeah, we sold the town, so me and Eliot are leaving.” 

Penny stood, unsure of what to say. He looked down at her. She was looking up at him, very clearly waiting for him to say something. He just didn’t know what she wanted to hear. She was leaving, so what? She was with Fen, and he wasn’t even sure they counted as friends at this point. 

“Is that all?” Margo demanded. 

“What?” he asked. 

“Don’t you even care that I’m leaving?” she asked. 

“I think it’s nice that you’re going back to your natural habitat,” he hedged. 

“Fuck you,” she said, turning around and storming away. 

Penny still didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to have said. He closed the door, feeling drained. He stood there, staring at the grains in the wood for a long time. 

***

“So, you did good work, Princess,” Marina said. 

“Thanks,” Margo said, smiling at the other woman. 

She watched as Marina continued to look over her exit paperwork, hoping she’d done everything right. She just wanted to get the hell out of there, after that humiliating scene with Penny. 

“Perfect attendance, nothing but glowing reviews,” she said. “And you must have done some number on Penny.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“His hours were up a month ago, but he kept coming anyway,” Marina said. 

Margo stared at her as she quietly underwent a paradigm shift. Penny had kept coming. What did that mean? Why had he kept coming? 

“Maybe he just got bored,” Marina said, leaning back in her chair. “Or maybe he just likes pretty girls?” 

Marina looked down Margo’s low-cut shirt, one eyebrow raised. Margo didn’t even care. Paradigm shift, mother fucker. She had to talk to Penny. 

***

Julia knocked on Eliot’s door, feeling nervous. She fidgeted anxiously with her sleeves, hoping he’d open the door before she lost her nerve. 

Eliot opened the door, smiling brightly at her. 

“I can’t go to New York!” she blurted out. 

“What?” he said. 

“I just—I just can’t pack up and leave everything I have here, you know?” 

Eliot nodded, wandering back in the room to continue shoving odds and ends into his suitcase. 

“I’m sure you have a lot of friends who would love to room with you.” 

“Yeah, not as many as you’d think,” Eliot muttered, quiet enough that she barely caught it. 

Julia stood, pulling her sleeves up and down her hands. She needed to say something, but she didn’t know what. He looked mad. She didn’t want to end it like this. Not like this. 

“Look,” Eliot said, “you’ve been a great friend.” 

He finally stopped packing but didn’t quite look at her as he ran his hand erratically through his hair until it was an unmitigated mess. 

“My only friend, so,” he said. “But great, nevertheless. You made my life here—so much better than I ever thought it would be.” 

He finally looked up at her, and Julia was shocked to see that his eyes were glistening. And suddenly, hers were, too. 

She lunged at Eliot, pulling him into a tight hug for the very first time. He hugged her back just as ferociously, chin in her had. 

“You, too,” she said. 

Eliot pulled back, and she let him. His eyes were still glistening, but he blinked rapidly until they cleared. Julia didn’t even bother. 

“So, I’m going to go back to New York alone, and you can just stay here,” Eliot said. 

Julia nodded, leaving before she started crying even harder. She wanted to go. She really really did. But Julia had never lived anywhere but Schitt’s Creek. She’d never worked anywhere but the motel, and she was too afraid to leave it all in one fell swoop. She silently said goodbye to Eliot, the best friend she’d ever had. 

***

Margo didn’t bother knocking. She flung the door to Penny’s barn wide, and there he was, sitting on his couch. 

“What the fuck?” Penny exclaimed, jumping up off the couch. 

“Marina told me,” she said. 

“Told you what?” 

“That your hours have been up for an entire month, what the fuck do you think?” 

Penny didn’t say anything, just stared at her head-on with a bored look on his face. 

“Why?” she asked. 

“I like to stay active,” Penny said. 

He was looking into her eyes, but Margo could see the lie in the way his eyebrows were raised, in the way his mouth tightened in a grimace. She _knew_ he was lying. 

You’re so full of shit.” 

“Whatever, Princess. There’s the door,” he said gesturing toward it with a careless wave of his hand. 

She snarled, inhuman and vicious with her rage. Penny took a step back, and Margo felt vindication. 

“Don’t you even care that I’m leaving?” 

“Of course, I do!” 

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. It didn’t work. 

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” she said. “Why did you do all that extra community service?” 

“You know why,” he said, finally looking away from her. 

“But why can’t you just say it?” she demanded, storming away from him towards the door. 

She’d only taken two steps before she felt Penny’s hand on her arm, pulling her almost too hard towards him and—there he was. His lips were molten hot, almost devouring her. He buried his hand in her loose curls, pulling him up into him. She pushed right back. Somehow her legs were around his waist, and she could feel all of him. She tightened her legs around him, pressing herself tighter into his embrace, as she wholly lost herself within him. She was gone. 

***

They were all seated around Fogg’s dining room table, smiling at each other like the friends they weren’t. 

“Pass me the potatoes, sweetheart,” Mr. Ember asked, with a lecherous grin Margo’s way. 

Margo resisted the urge to murder him right there and then. Instead, she passed the potatoes over with a smile that was becoming more frayed the longer this took. While he was busy heaping three more portions of potatoes onto his place, she glared over at Eliot. He was stirring peas around his plate as if it took all of his concentration. He hadn’t said a word all night, and she might actually kill him this time for making Margo deal with the twat of all twats alone. 

“You know my grandad opened his first factory in a place just like this,” Mr. Ember garbled around his mouthful of food. “This place is just bursting with opportunity.” 

“Bursting seems to be the operative word,” Fogg said, glancing at his portion of potatoes. 

Margo smirked down at her plate. Eliot hadn’t even seemed to notice. She kicked him under the table, but he barely even looked up. 

“Is it just me, or is it these potatoes that are making me horny?” Mr. Ember asked. 

Fogg laughed. Margo didn’t, couldn’t make herself, even after Fogg sent a sharp look her way. 

“I think it’s just you,” Fogg said congenially. 

They both laughed together some more, and Margo finally reached her breaking point. 

“How about we sign those papers now, hmm?” she asked. 

“Oh, yes, little lady,” he said. “Send them my way.” 

She pulled them from her bag along with a pen and pushed them across the table to him. She’d come prepared. Margo didn’t want anything to stop her from leaving this godforsaken place. Mr. Ember nodded, pen in hand as he turned to the last page. But, before he could sign on the dotted line, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he began convulsing. 

“Fuck,” Margo said, as he dropped back into his chair, unconscious. 

“Looks like you’ll be staying with us a little longer,” Fogg said. 

Margo pulled out her phone to call an ambulance, as Eliot stood from the table and stalked out of the room, the front door slamming in his wake. 

***

Julia looked up, surprised, as Margo burst into the lobby. 

“Have you seen Eliot?” Margo asked. 

“No, why?” Julia asked. 

“The motherfucker who was supposed to buy the town is in a fucking coma, and Eliot just ran from the room like a fainting schoolgirl.” 

“So, you’re staying?” Julia asked, trying to keep the hope out of her voice. 

Margo nodded glumly, seeming to almost slump into herself. 

“People come out of comas,” Julia said placatingly. 

Margo just nodded again but didn’t respond. Julia felt bad for being so happy right them, barely managing to keep the smile from her face. But then Margo straightened up again, eyes wide. 

“I’m pretty sure I’m engaged,” she said. “And I’m pretty sure I just cheated on my fiancé.” 

“What the fuck Margo?” 

***

Eliot had stollen Fogg’s keys, then taken his car from the driveway. No one had stopped him. No one even seemed to have noticed, what with the guy dying in Fogg’s dining room. He stopped at the hotel for his lone suitcase, and bolted to the car, hoping against hope that he didn’t run into Julia. He didn’t. 

So, he was driving. Presumably to New York, but he wasn’t sure how to get there, and his phone's battery had died. He’d settle for a Taco Bell to charge his phone in at this point but didn’t see one of those either. He just kept driving, terrified of going back to New York alone, terrified of staying in that little town for the rest of his life. He was just so goddamn scared. So, he drove and drove and drove, trying not to think at all. 


	10. Finding Eliot

Julia startled as Margo rushed into the lobby, door banging into the wall violently. Her hair was mussed, and she was wearing a robe and slippers. Julia had never seen her this frazzled, this sloppy. 

“I can’t find Eliot,” Margo said, voice panicked. 

“What do you mean you can’t find Eliot?” Julia asked. 

“I mean he never came back last night!” 

Shit. Julia felt her pulse ratchet up with her anxiety. He didn’t really know anyone in town besides Julia. Where would he have gone? 

“Did he say anything to you?” Margo asked. 

“No,” she said. “I haven’t seen him since last night.”

Margo started pacing back in forth in front of the counter. Julia clenched her fists and felt her nails dig into her skin. She unclenched them, digging her fingers into the countertop instead as she watched Margo pace. 

“He does this sometimes,” Margo said. “He’s fine, right?” 

Margo spun back towards Julia, eyes pleading. 

“You should call the police,” she said. 

“Right, right, the police.” 

Margo patted her robe down, as if looking for a cell phone she couldn’t possibly be carrying. Julia pushed the landline across the counter towards her. Margo thanked her as she picked up the phone, and now Julia was really worried. 

“Yeah, I’d like to report a missing person,” Margo said. “My brother didn’t come home last night.” 

Julia watched the conversation devolve until Margo was practically snarling through the phone, eyebrows lowered dangerously, and hand clenched around the phone so tightly Julia could swear she heard the plastic groan. 

“Well, I can’t find him, so what would you say he is?” Margo demanded. 

After a few more expletives, Margo hung up, stormy expression barely covering up her worry. 

“I’m going to go search the town,” Margo said. “Will you text me if they call back?” 

“Of course,” Julia said. 

As Margo ran from the room, Julia tried to calm her breathing. It was Eliot. He’d be fine. 

***

Penny smiled when he opened the door to find Margo standing on the other side. He leaned against the doorframe and smirked over at her. 

“So, about the other night,” he started. “That was the most fun I’ve had all year.” 

Margo nodded, looking past him into the barn. Penny opened the door wider to usher her inside. 

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind having a little more fun right now,” Penny said, leaning in for a kiss. 

He couldn’t help the flicker of hurt that ran through him when Margo leaned out of his reach. As if noticing his reaction, she began talking, words tripping over each other in an attempt to get them out faster. 

“It’s just that Eliot is missing. And when we got together, I thought I was leaving, and now we’re not.” she said, all in one breath. “And now things are a little complicated with Fen—” 

“I thought things were done with Fen,” he interrupted. 

“Me too, but apparently she was misinformed.” 

“By who?” 

“By me.” 

“Okay,” Penny said, drawing back away from her. 

Margo took a deep breath, looking around the barn, as if in search of something. Or someone. 

“You haven’t seen Eliot, have you?” she asked. 

“No.” 

“Listen,” she started, finally looking back at him, “I have a moral obligation to Fen until this whole thing works itself out. Okay?” 

Margo looked almost desperate, eyes pleading and wild. Penny wanted to reach out, to hold her hand, to tell her it would all be okay, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t his place. Whatever they were, they weren’t that. Not yet. 

“I can wait.” 

***

Fen knocked on Margo’s door tentatively. She hadn’t heard from Margo since the deal to sell the town had fallen through, and she wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. She just wanted to see Margo. 

Margo opened the door, looking weary. Despite being ushered inside, Fen felt like an intruder. She stood awkwardly by the door as Margo sank down into one of the chairs at the dining table, shoulders slumping. 

“Are you okay?” Fen asked. 

Margo took a shaky breath. Fen wanted to hug her, to help her, but Margo was acting like a cornered dog, and Fen was afraid if she reached out just then, she’d get bitten. 

“Eliot’s still missing,” Margo said. 

“I’m sorry,” Fen said. “What can I do?” 

“There’s nothing to do, at this point,” Margo said. “We think he stole Fogg’s car, so we’re just waiting for the police to find it.” 

“I’m sorry,” Fen said. “I wish you would’ve told me.” 

“I am now,” Margo snapped. 

“Yeah, but I just wanted to be here for you. I’ve been trying to be more here for you, but I guess my texts haven’t been getting through, or maybe I’m sending them wrong?” 

Fen pulled her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through the list of unanswered texts to Margo, frown on her face. She looked back over to Margo, who hadn’t even looked up from the tabletop. 

“That’s sweet,” Margo said, a slight smile on her face even as she didn’t bother looking up. 

Fen stood there, staring over at her, feeling the silence suffocate her. They’d been so good, hadn’t they? Was this just because of Eliot? Fen wished Margo would let her help in some small way. Instead, she stood in silence, thoughts spiraling as the minutes passed and Margo still didn’t look up at her. 

“I don’t want to pressure you,” Fen blurted out, unable to stand the strained silence one second longer. “But you said you wanted to marry me, right? If you weren’t leaving. And you’re not leaving so—”

“I can’t right now,” Margo interrupted. 

She finally looked up at Fen. Her eyes were red, wide and tired. Fen wanted to caress her cheek. 

“I’m just so scared.” 

***

Julia and Margo sat on Fogg’s couch, drinking his strong coffee. Fogg had been complaining about his stollen car for thirty minutes now, and Margo wanted to scream. Did he seriously think his missing car was somehow comparable to her missing brother? 

“Eliot’s missing,” Margo snapped. “Don’t you think that’s a little more important than your shitty car?” 

“I would if he wasn’t a criminal miscreant,” Fogg said, sipping his coffee. “Besides, it’s been three days, and everyone knows they’re almost always dead after forty-eight hours.” 

Julia grabbed her arm, as if she’d read Margo’s violent thoughts and tried to hold her back. Margo turned her glare on Julia instead, but before she could yell at either of them, Fogg’s phone rang. Margo watched in rapt attention as he answered it, hoping against hope that they’d found her brother. 

“Oh, did you?” Fogg said, voice unconcerned. “And where is that?” 

Margo stared at him, wishing he’d put it on speakerphone. Fogg glanced over, nodding in their direction. Did that mean it was about Eliot? 

“Can you give me the address?” he asked, scribbling it down on a post-it note he snatched off his desk. 

Margo jumped up off the couch. Julia followed in her wake, hand still clutched around her bicep. Margo snatched the post-it from Fogg before he’d even hung up the phone. She didn’t know where that was. She looked over at Julia, but she didn’t look like she knew either. 

“They found my car,” Fogg said after he’d finally hung up. 

“And Eliot?” Julia demanded. 

“I didn’t ask,” Fogg said.

Margo almost punched him, and by the way Julia dropped her arm, she felt the same. Margo stalked out of the house, Julia at her heels. 

“Bring my car back with you!” Fogg shouted after them. 

Margo slammed the door, and stormed away from the house, back towards Julia’s car. 

“Will you drive?” Margo asked. 

“Of course.” 

Margo typed the address into her phone. They drove. 

***

“So, if Eliot is out there with the car, you really expect me to believe he’s been on an Amish farm for three days?” Julia demanded. 

Margo laughed, feeling the tension roll off her shoulders, just a little. She could kind of understand Eliot’s whole thing with Julia, she supposed. 

“Fuck if I know.” Margo said. “It’s just like Eliot to run off like this, though. Just like him to run off and leave the rest of us to worry, on top of everything else.” 

Julia nodded but didn’t comment. 

“I’ve just got a lot going on in my life, right now.” Margo said. “Fen keeps harassing me about the whole am I gonna marry her thing, and then there’s the whole Penny issue, which is very complicated and sexy, so I just don’t know what to do. You know?” 

“Well, who do you want to be with?” Julia asked, not taking her eyes off the road. 

Margo thought about it. Fen was the nicest person she’d ever met, but what she had with Penny? It was magnetic. She didn’t want to hurt Fen, though. But she definitely didn’t want to marry her. What was she supposed to do? 

“I don’t want to marry Fen,” Margo finally settled on. 

“Then I guess you should tell her that, shouldn’t you?” 

Margo nodded, but turned the music up, making any more conversation impossible. 

***

Margo stared, dumbstruck. Beside her, Julia was doing the same. They both stood, side by side, and stared. An Amish girl was plowing a field of what looked like potatoes, and there, next to her squatted Eliot. He was wearing a black button-up, rolled up at the sleeves, black slacks, a black belt, black shoes, and black sunglasses. He had what looked like a large fork in one hand. Margo had never seen anyone look so out of place in her entire life. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Margo yelled. 

Eliot snapped his head up. Margo couldn’t tell what his expression looked like from this far away, what with the sunglasses. She briefly thought about hopping the fence that separated them, before deciding against it. 

“Learning to garden, what does it look like?” he yelled back. 

“We’re here to take you home!” 

“Three days later?” 

“No one knew where you were!” Julia yelled. 

“What if I’m not ready to come home?” 

Margo sighed, aggravated. They’d driven all this way, just to have Eliot be an asshat and not come back with them? She didn’t think so. 

“There’s a bug on your shirt!” she yelled meanly. 

Eliot looked down and saw the very real and very large looking cockroach on his stomach. He brushed it back, jumping away from it, and falling on his ass as he dropped the giant fork thing almost on top of his own head. 

“Ew, fuck!” 

Eliot walked over to them, and half-hazardly shimmied overtop the fence, looking a weird mix of lanky and graceful. Margo lunged at him, pulling him into a fierce hug as soon as his feet touched the ground once more. She pushed her tears back into their ducts by sheer force of will. When Eliot tentatively put his hands on her back, Margo finally felt her world realign. Beside her, Julia was crying and had latched her hand out to hold Eliot’s own. They’d be okay. 

***

Eliot sat on the house’s porch, watching as the Amish people he’d been housed by for the past three days carry has scant luggage out of the car. He was feeling decidedly awkward with Margo and Julia standing next to each other, both looking equally exasperated with him. If those two teamed up to tease him, he might die. All in all, he was regretting every life decision he’d ever made. 

“Thank you for housing Eliot,” Margo said. 

“We should be thanking you for coming,” the matriarch of the house said. “We spent two sleepless nights wondering what would happen if nobody came. Would we be stuck with him?” 

Eliot refused to meet anyone’s eyes, feeling as if he’d just been chastised by a decidedly unapproving parent. He just knew Margo and Julia were smirking, god damn them. 

“Eliot’s stay here has taught us some valuable lessons in patience, forgiveness, restraint,” her husband chimed in. 

“He teaches us those same lessons every day,” Julia said. 

Eliot looked over at her, glaring at the sunny smile he found on her face. Next to her, Margo had lifted her hand to cover up her own smile. Eliot hated them both. 

“You know, I’m not sure I’m ready to go yet,” he said. 

“And yet, your stay with us has come to an end,” the man continued, tossing Eliot’s bag the rest of the way down the porch steps. 

Eliot nodded, standing up to face his ungracious hosts. 

“Your three days here will remain in our memories for many days and many, many, many nights,” the woman said. 

“Thank you for showing me patience when no one else did,” Eliot said with a pointed look over to Margo. “And compassion when—”

“Let’s go!” Margo interrupted. 

They went. 

***

Eliot walked into the lobby, looking shifty. Julia pretended not to hear him, just continued to look down at her book, eyes no longer taking in the words on the page. The silence lasted longer expected. Julia resisted the urge to look up at him, to see what he was thinking. 

“Margo said you were calling around, asking for me,” he said. “Which I thought was very nice of you.” 

“Oh, well I didn’t,” Julia said. 

“She said you did.” 

“Well, she was mistaken,” she said. “In fact, I was hoping you wouldn’t ever come back.” 

“I was intending to stay away longer, but I forgot my phone charger, and ran out of money.” 

Julia put down her book and found Eliot smiling ruefully. Julia sighed. 

“You can’t just leave like that, okay?” 

Julia felt a ghost of that knotted panic coiling in her stomach, just thinking about his disappearance, felt that fear that maybe she’d never see him again, that he was hurt. 

“I was worried,” she mumbled, wringing her hands in front of her. 

Eliot crossed his arms and took a step back. He tapped his foot. He recrossed his arms with his left on top this time. He ran his hand through his hair. Julia waited. 

“As I was driving away, I thought—” he started, “I thought, well there goes my one friend. Try saying that one out loud. It’s very dark.” 

Julia laughed, feeling tears come to her eyes once more. She blinked them away. 

“Better than none right?” she asked. 

“Much better.” 

***

Eliot, Julia, and Margo were all clustered together at the diner, eating dinner. Eliot was trying his very best not to find it weird to have them both there with him. It was only sort of working. 

“Eliot!” Alice exclaimed as she walked up with their menus. “You’re back!” 

Eliot was surprised at how genuinely happy she sounded to see him. Usually when he disappeared like this, only Margo noticed, and even she was generally more exasperated than worried. He wasn’t sure how to deal with this. 

“I am,” Eliot said, smiling softly back at her. 

“I’m glad you’re alright,” she said, dropping the menus off before hurrying to another occupied table. 

Eliot looked over at Margo’s pointed look and rolled his eyes. So, a few more people were worried about him, so what? He probably wouldn’t do it again, wasn’t that enough? 

“Well, if it isn’t the car thief,” Fogg said, loitering by their table. 

Eliot glared up at him until one of the girl’s kicked him under the table. He sighed, giving in. 

“I’m very sorry for taking your car without permission,” he said. “It was disrespectful of me, and I shouldn’t have done it.” 

Fogg just kept standing there, staring down at him. Eliot was starting to feel a little freaked out with Fogg’s eyes boring into him like that. What else did he want Eliot to say? 

“It won’t happen again,” Eliot tried. 

Fogg just kept staring. 

“It was an immature decision on my part,” he tacked on. 

Fogg was still staring. 

“Jesus Christ, would you just accept my apology?” he burst out. 

“Don’t let it happen again,” Fogg said. 

He patted Eliot’s shoulder roughly as he walked away. Eliot cringed. Perhaps everyone wasn’t worried about him. He couldn’t help but feel a little relieved at that. He looked down at the menu, content with his little circle, the few he could call his own.


	11. The Cedar Chest

Margo felt a little part of herself shrivel up and die at Fen’s bright smile when she walked into the vet clinic. 

“So, I’ve been thinking a lot about things,” Margo started. 

“I’ve been thinking a lot about things, too,” Fen said, still smiling. 

“The proposal.” 

“Yes!” Fen said. “The more I thought about it, the less it felt right.” 

Margo sagged in relief. Maybe this wouldn’t be as painful as she’d thought. Maybe her and Fen were on the same page, after all. A knot within her stomach unfurled, just a little. 

“It all felt so rushed,” Fen said. 

“It did!” 

Fen reached for her, running her hands up and down Margo’s arms in a soothing gesture. 

“So, I think we should take some time, really find ourselves, and then in a couple of weeks, we can try this whole proposal thing again. 

Margo had been nodding, kept nodding, couldn’t stop as she felt herself unraveling. Again? Fen wanted to try it again? What the fuck was she supposed to say to that? 

“Of course, of course, of course,” Margo said. “Perfect.” 

Fen smiled and pulled Margo into a tight hug. Margo felt the ground crumbling all around her. Fuck. 

***

Penny knocked on Margo’s door in trepidation. It only increased after Margo let him in and immediately began to pace the length of the room like a caged cat. Penny sat down on one of the beds and waited. 

“I finally went to break up with Fen,” she said, stopping in front of him. 

“That must have been hard,” he said. “How’d she take it?” 

Margo crossed her arms and looked towards the door as if she was about to flee. She didn’t break up with Fen. Penny knew she wouldn’t, but he had hoped—

“You didn’t break up with her, did you?” he asked. 

“I physically couldn’t,” she said. 

Her face twisted, mouth pursed, eyebrows drawn together, nose scrunched up. Penny sat on his hands, willing himself not to reach for her. She wasn’t his to reach for, might not even want him, but god, she looked wrecked. 

“What happens to people who can’t break up with someone?” Margo asked., wild-eyed. “Do they just spend the rest of their lives married to the same sweet, wrong person?” 

“You need to break up with her,” Penny said. “This isn’t fair to either of you.” 

Margo looked down at the ground, arms still crossed, tapping her foot in thought. Penny waited. 

“What if I sent her the sweetest little text message?” she asked, pulling out her phone. 

Penny was appalled. That wasn’t the way you treated people, especially nice people like Fen. Was this what she’d do to him? He wasn’t sure what his face was doing, but at the way Margo sighed and put her phone back into her pocket when she glanced at it, it must not have been pleasant. 

“Okay, yeah.” 

Penny nodded, and left, unable to stay and watch Margo stew over breaking Fen’s heart, not knowing if she’d break his, too. 

***

Fen felt her gut clench as she watched Margo walk into the clinic for the second time that day. 

“What’s up?” she asked, trying to smile. 

Margo crossed her arms, tapping her fingers against her bicep. Fen watched silently, waiting for her to drop whatever bomb she was holding. 

“People like you deserve more than people like me,” Margo said. “You’re the perfect girlfriend, Fen.” 

“Thank you,” Fen said, unsure of what else to say. 

“But—” 

“I knew there was a but.” 

“But you’re just not the perfect girlfriend for me.” 

Fen stood, shocked. She’d thought Margo was happy with her. She felt her lips tremble and willed herself not to cry. It didn’t work, so she willed herself not to sob. It did. 

“Okay,” she said, voice small. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Fen tried to find comfort in how sincere Margo sounded, but couldn’t. The edges of her vision were blurring with tears, and she was barely hanging onto the little decorum she had left. 

“It’s okay,” she said, even though it wasn’t. “I wouldn’t want to marry someone who wasn’t as into me as I’m into them.” 

“I’m sorry,” Margo said, touching her arm before leaving as quickly as she’d come. 

Fen broke apart, there on her office floor, and hoped with all her heart that there were no customers around to hear her sobs. 

***

“I’m going to stay with Penny for a few weeks,” Margo told Eliot as she packed an overnight bag. 

“Moving on fast, aren’t you?” Eliot said. 

“Shut up,” she said, bitingly. 

The talk with Fen still felt like an open wound. But she’d made Penny wait on her long enough. Besides, everyone always said getting under someone else was the best way to get over heartbreak, even if it wasn’t her own heart that had broken. 

“Sorry,” Eliot said, as if he’d sensed her unease. 

She smiled halfheartedly at him, as he lounged on his bed, surfing through channel after channel. He didn’t look up. The edges of her felt fragile. It made sense, she supposed. Fen had been her longest relationship to date, and the nicest person she’d ever been with. She just hoped she healed over soon. 

Margo waved goodbye to Eliot and went to wait for Penny out front, ready for a change of pace, a change of scenery, a distraction. And damn was Penny a distracting man. 

***

“Are the cedar planks behind the motel spoken for, or?” Eliot asked. 

He sauntered into the lobby. Julia put down the game of sudoku she’d been playing on her phone, grateful for this distraction, whatever it was about. 

“Why?” she asked. 

“A family of moths have taken up residence in my knitwear and I plan to put a stop to it.” 

“By beating them to death with a plank of wood?” she asked. 

“By building a cedar chest to put them in.” 

Oh. Oh, this should be good. Julia tried not to laugh outright at the idea of Eliot building anything from scratch with his bare hands and was left with twitching lips. 

“And you think you have the technical capabilities for that?” she asked. 

“I think I have Google,” he said. “I’ll figure it out.” 

Julia did laugh this time. She could so clearly picture him googling how to build a cedar chest and becoming more and more confused by the instructions. This was going to be so good. 

“So? Can I have them?” 

“They’re all yours.” 

This was going to be some high-quality entertainment. Julia almost felt like she should pay him for it. 

***

Eliot had spent the night googling instructions on how to make a cedar chest and becoming increasingly frustrated by the varied results and unclear instructions. Now, he was taping the dimensions of the chest onto the floor, hoping that was at least a starting point. He stared down at the square now taped onto the floor, waiting for it to tell him what to do. It didn’t. 

He sighed in relief when a knock at the door interrupted what was shaping up to be another spiral. He opened it to find Penny waiting on the other side. 

“Getting clothes for Margo?” Eliot asked. 

Penny grunted in response and pushed his way inside. Eliot looked back down at the tape on the floor, wondering if maybe it was too big. He pulled up one of the seams and tore a bit off. Now it was crooked, so he pulled the other side up to even it out, but the entire square come up with it. Eliot looked down at all of his work dangling from his fingers in a tangled ball of yarn and wanted to scream. 

“What are you doing?” Penny asked. 

“Just taking some measurements.” 

“For what?” 

“A cedar chest I’m building.” 

“Why don’t you just use a measuring tape.” 

“I didn’t think of that,” Eliot admitted. “Plus, I don’t have one.” 

Penny stared down at the tape in Eliot’s hand. Eliot put his arm behind his back in the blind hope that not being able to see it any more would knock that pitying look off Penny’s face. 

“Do you want some help?” Penny asked. 

Eliot weighed his wounded pride against the help of someone who might actually know what they were doing. 

“That would be lovely,” he said, mustering all the poise he could. 

“How far have you gotten?” Penny asked. 

“This far,” Eliot said, pulling his hand from behind his back and holding the wadded-up ball of tape up for Penny to see. 

They both stared at it. Penny laughed, possibly at Eliot instead of with him, but beggars can’t be choosers. Eliot chucked the ball of tape at Penny’s face, but Penny just swatted it back, still laughing. 

***

“I’m going to need some things for the chest,” Eliot said, walking back into the lobby. 

“Like the number for a carpenter?” Julia asked, not looking up from her phone. 

“Like a work bench, a miter saw, a bar clamp, and some towels.” 

Julia looked up, shock on her face. Loitering outside the door as he memorized the list Penny had given him had clearly been worth it. 

“Do you know how to use a miter saw?” Julia asked. 

Eliot felt his puffed-up pride wither away and die at her very legitimate question. He, in fact, had no idea what a miter saw was, much less how to use it. 

“No, but Penny does,” Eliot said. “We will be building it together.” 

Julia cupped her chin in her palm, elbow on the counter in front of her and smirked up at him. 

“Will you now?” she asked. 

“Yes,” Eliot said firmly. “Now, the tools?” 

***

Eliot sat outside on the ugly yellow chair and watched Penny sand what was starting to actually look like a cedar chest. Eliot was impressed. He took another drag from his cigarette and contemplated a world where Penny and Margo worked out, and he’d get to keep this level of competence around forever. A man could dream. 

“This is so nice of you,” Eliot said. 

“Yeah, well I can’t not help when I see someone doing something wrong,” Penny replied. 

“Was it wrong, or was it just unconventional?” Eliot asked. 

Penny put down the sandpaper to look over at Eliot in what looked like disbelief. 

“No, it was wrong,” he said. “It was so wrong.” 

Eliot thought about his ball of tangled tape and looked over at Penny’s damn near-masterpiece of wood, and yeah. He had a point. 

“Okay, well I’m not going to argue with you. We’re already in too deep.” 

Penny laughed, and Eliot was once again shocked that this vagabond mountain man seemed to have a personality and a sense of humor. 

Penny abandoned the project to come sit down in the empty lime-green chair next to him. He reached out for the cigarette Eliot was actively smoking and stole a few drags. Eliot raised his eyebrows, wondering what the fuck was up with him. 

“Margo’s great,” Penny started. “She’s great, you know?” 

Uh oh. This wasn’t going to be good. 

“Yeah, she is,” Eliot said. 

“She _is_ ,” he said. “But now someone is there all the time.” 

“And you want your space,” Eliot said. 

“I’m used to it.” 

Eliot reached out to pluck his cigarette back from between Penny’s lips and took the last few drags to buy himself some thinking time. He dropped it on the ground, putting out the flame with his heel. 

“Learn to tune her out,” Eliot said. “Find little things like this to do on your own because no you can’t mention any of this to her. She’d lose her fucking mind.” 

Penny nodded and sighed. He reached for the pack of cigarettes on the table beside Eliot and stole one without asking. Cigarette between his lips, he reached his hand out beseechingly to Eliot. Eliot does one better and held the lighter up to his unlit cigarette until it caught. Too bad Margo had gotten there first because goddamn. 

***

Margo unpacked her bag, all fragility within her replaced with annoyance. Penny had asked her to leave _just for a bit_. What kind of boyfriend did that? Wasn’t the whole point of having one so you didn’t have to be alone? And the sex, which was literally mind-bogglingly good with Penny, but still. 

“What are you doing here?” Eliot asked. 

“Penny was just getting kind of clingy,” she said. “So, I thought I’d get a little space.” 

“You thought so, did you?”

Margo looked over at him sharply. He was using his _I’m making fun of you_ voice, but she had no idea why. There was no way he could know that Penny had kicked her out, so what was he up to. She glared at him, hoping he’d crack. He didn’t. 

“I did,” she said. “It’s all kind of new, and we don’t need to spend every minute together.” 

“Right,” Eliot said, in that exact goddamn voice. 

“What are you up to?” she asked accusingly. 

“Nothing!” he said. 

She glared at him until his smile slipped, just a little. Then? She tackled him. 


	12. Blouse Barn

“What do you think of this shirt?” Eliot asked. 

Margo eyed it critically. It was a garish shade of blue and covered in white polka dots. Margo wouldn’t be caught dead in the atrocious garment. 

“It looks fine,” she replied, voice scratchy. 

“You’re lying. That’s your lying voice.” 

Eliot turned away from the mirror he’d been preening into for the last ten minutes to glare at her, but she must have looked more pitiful than she’d thought because he didn’t follow up his quip. Instead, he walked over to his own bed, picked up his pillow and gently placed it behind her back where her own pillow was already situated. He even fluffed it. Margo was touched. 

“Thanks,” she said, but immediately erupted into a coughing fit. 

Eliot rushed over to the fridge and plucked an iced tea from it. He put it into her hand, and she gulped it down, ignoring the way it burned her throat. 

“Do you need me to stay?” he asked. “I could just not go.” 

“Nuh-uh. You’re not using me to get out of this.” 

Eliot pouted, plopping down onto her bed and checking her temperature with the back of his hand. Margo indulged him despite knowing how useless his efforts were. It was _nice_ to have someone around like this. Usually, when she was sick, it was just her and her bed against the world. 

“But I don’t want to go,” he whined. 

“Tough. You’re going.” 

Eliot sighed, patted her forehead a few times and stood back up to eye himself in the mirror once more. 

“So, yes to the shirt?” 

“You look like a gay pirate, and not in the cute way.” 

“You have no taste.” 

He stormed out of the room, grabbing his phone and his keys and slamming the door. Margo winced. Her head was pounding. She grabbed the remote, resigned to convalescence for the rest of the day. 

***

“What do you think of this shirt?” 

Julia glanced up from her computer, and there Eliot was in the worst shirt she’d ever seen him in. It was too bright to look directly at. She squinted her eyes, and yes, that was a lot of frills. 

“You look like a smurf threw up on you.” 

Eliot threw his hands up in the air theatrically and sighed, long and drawn out. Julia wondered if the dramatics meant he was in a good mood, or if he was stressed. With Eliot, it could go either way. 

“What’s up with you?” she asked. 

He sauntered up to the counter, planted his elbows and dropped his chin into them, then honest-to-god fluttered his eyelashes at her. 

“What?” she demanded. 

“Not much,” he said, tilting his eyes up alluringly toward her. “I just need a ride to Pinedale.” 

“No.” 

His eyes went big and wide. How did he even do that? He looked like a puppy who’d been kicked too many times and was also maybe flirting. Julia was ashamed to admit that his pleading eyes were working. 

“No,” she said again. 

He just kept looking up at her. When she didn’t budge, he started batting his eyelashes up at her once more. Julia looked back at her computer, where she was failing to win a round of Solitaire, at the guestbook that laid vacant and empty, then back at Eliot’s beseeching eyes. 

_“Fine!”_

Eliot smiled. 

***

Penny knocked on Margo’s door apprehensively. She hadn’t been answering her phone. Maybe kicking her out had been a dick move, but she was _always there,_ and he’d panicked. He hoped she wasn’t still pissed, and that if she was, his bribery mocha would ease his way back into her good graces. 

“Come in,” Margo’s ragged voice called through the door, and oh god, had she been crying? 

Penny pushed the door open. Margo was sitting up in bed, coughing quietly into the crook of her arm. Her skin was washed out and sickly looking, especially with the sheen of sweat covering her forehead. There were tissues crumpled and scattered all around her, and she was clutching a box of unused ones in her free hand. Half-empty water glasses covered her nightstand. Most alarmingly, she didn’t look like she’d combed her hair in several days. 

He put the mocha down on the table as he rushed past it toward her bed. Penny sat down on the edge and ran his hand through her damp hair. She pushed him away, but he just put his hand onto her forehead to check her temperature. It felt warm, but what did he know? It’s not like he was a doctor. 

“Are you okay?” he asked. 

“Why do you care?” she asked, voice still croaking. “Asshole.” 

She turned her head away, dropping the tissues down onto the bed to cross her arms with a glare. Rather than looking like her usual intimidating self however, she looked more like a cat that had just been shoved into a bath of cold water. Penny bit his lip, trying not to smile. 

“Look—” he started. “I’m sorry, okay?” 

Margo didn’t look up at him or even acknowledge that he’d spoken, so he decided to find some more words within himself. 

“I was an asshole. I’m just not used to this okay?” he asked. 

Words were so goddamn frustrating. He always meant what he said, but he never could manage to quite say what he meant. He tried again. 

“I freaked out. You were there, and no one’s ever there. I’m just not used to it.” 

Her arms were still folded, but she’d moved her eyes back toward the television, which was playing some inane reality television show at low volume. Penny took it as a good sign. He reached for her hand and squeezed it gently between both of his own. He tried to meet her eyes and was almost grateful when she didn’t meet his. He wasn’t used to being honest with people, much less earnest. He may even get hives. 

“Are you okay?” he asked again. 

She stayed poised like a statue for a few more seconds, and it wasn’t until she melted back into the pillows behind her that he realized how stiff she’d been. 

“It’s just a cold,” she said with a sniffle. 

Penny plucked a tissue from the abandoned box on the bed and handed it to her. After trying in vain to delicately wipe her nose, Margo sighed and blew it into the tissue. Penny smiled down at her hand still clasped in his and gave it another squeeze. 

“I don’t suppose you want your apology mocha then?” he asked. 

“I’ve never turned down a mocha in my life, and I’m not about to start now,” she replied with a haughty hair flip that just wasn’t working in her unwashed state. 

He retrieved it from the table and handed it to her. She took a greedy sip, as he loitered awkwardly beside her bed, unsure what to do now. She finally looked up at him, and Penny averted his eyes. 

“What can I do?” he asked, looking down at his worn-down boots. 

The silence was drawn out long enough to make his skin itch with the urge to flee this emotionally charged moment. She was…vulnerable, and Penny tended to crush delicate things. He didn’t want to do that—not with her. 

“Watch What Not to Wear with me?” she asked. 

Penny looked over to the frankly aggravating show playing on the television and thought about how little he liked reality shows. He looked over to Margo who looked small and wan. 

Mind made up, he sat down on the edge of her bed and pulled off his dirty boots. Margo grumbled when he nudged her into the middle of the bed but sighed contentedly when he put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her firmly to his side. He grabbed the remote and turned the volume up, ready to settle in for a day of shitty television and excellent, if sickly, company. 

When he next looked down at Margo, she was asleep on his shoulder, lips upturned in a gentle smile. 

***

Eliot looked across the street at the storefront in growing trepidation. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this nervous. He could really use the money, but more importantly, Julia and Margo would both know that they’d interviewed him and found him lacking Why did trying have to be so embarrassing? 

“I feel like I was lied to. I mean, Blouse Barn? That’s hardly an upscale boutique,” he said, not looking at Julia in the driver’s seat. “Maybe we should just go.” 

“No way,” she replied. “You dragged me all the way here. You’re going in.” 

Eliot continued staring over at the storefront. He startled when he felt Julia’s hand squeeze his where it was resting against his knee. He looked back over at her to find her smiling gently at him. 

“I’m sure they’ll love you.” 

Eliot nodded in response and finally got out of the car, if only to get away from her. Julia was being weird. She was supposed to be a sarcastic asshole and a bully. At least to him. If she was being nice to him, he must look more freaked out than he’d thought. 

He opened the front door and then halted halfway through. This was decidedly not an upscale boutique. It was overcrowded with tacky clothing, and there was no natural flow to the store. Hell, there was barely a walkway to get through the racks, not that he was sure why anyone would want to. He was just about to back out of the store and pretend that the whole incident had never happened when a voice called to him from the depths of what may very well be his own personal hell. 

“Can I help you?” 

Resigned, Eliot entered the store fully—the jingling bells on the door behind him sounding out his death knell. He pushed his way through the racks further into the bowels of the store, shuddering at every item of clothing his eyes landed on. 

When he finally made it to the just-as-tacky front counter, a surprisingly classy-looking older woman with short brown hair was seated behind it. There was no way that she’d bought the chic maroon turtleneck she was currently wearing in this atrocious store. As he looked her over, he noticed her quirked eyebrow, and decided now was the time to speak. 

“I spoke to the owner of this fine establishment on the phone,” he said, gesturing behind him at the crowded space. “I believe I have an interview right about now?” 

Now it was the woman’s turn to look him up and down, clearly judging his shirt. He knew he should’ve changed it. 

“That would be with me,” she said. 

She reached across the counter to shake his hand firmly. Eliot was a little startled by her grip. It felt like she was trying to turn his hand into a bloody pulp. When she finally let go, he pulled it down to his side like a wolf with an injured paw. The woman smiled. 

“I’m Fiona Lipson,” she said. “But you? You can call me Miss Lipson.” 

“I’m Eliot—”

“Follow me,” she said, cutting him off. 

She led him into a back office with a cluttered desk. She sat down behind it, so Eliot perched uncomfortably on the edge of the only seat across from her. 

“Did you bring a resume?” she asked, clacking her nails on the wood of the desk. 

Eliot swallowed. He hadn’t known he was supposed to bring anything. Why had no one told him? Why did he not know how to do literally anything? He swallowed again, looking down at his hands clasped in his lap, trying to think of the right thing to say. 

“No—” he started, then stalled. “No, but I have an excellent eye for clothing, and I’m a people person. I think I could really turn this place around.” 

He looked up at her and knew by her lowered eyebrows that he’d said something wrong. The clacking of her nails was starting to sound menacing to his ears. 

“So, my store needs turned around?” she asked, voice overly pleasant. “And what exactly do you think is wrong with it right now?” 

Eliot gulped. Shit. Three seconds into his interview and he’d already insulted her. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. 

“I see nothing but potential in your store. Is the floor a little crowded? Yes. Are the mannequins a little too busty? Absolutely. Is the—” 

“Well, this is all very constructive,” she interrupted, leaning toward him with a rather manic glint in her eyes. “And it’s clear you have some strong ideas, but it seems as though you have trouble filtering negative thoughts, so I’m just not sure if I can trust you to represent the Blouse Barn.” 

Eliot wasn’t sure if he even wanted the job at this point, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her decide he wasn’t good enough for this ridiculous store. She was going to hire him, goddamn it. 

“I assumed, as a businesswoman, you’d be fine with an open dialogue between employee and employer,” he said primly. “With customers, I of course, would treat them with a higher level of decorum. I understand that this is a place of business.” 

That seemed to give her pause. Eliot tried to keep his face straight and suppress the urge to flee before she could shoot him down or skewer him on the nails she was still tapping menacingly on her desk as she gazed across it at him. The silence was getting frankly uncomfortable. Eliot was three seconds away from blurting something stupid, anything, just to fill it. 

“I’ll need to test you out on the floor, working with customers,” she said, finally. 

“I won’t let you down,” he said. 

“We’ll see.” 

***

Eliot had been trying to help the same customer for the past ten minutes and he was _tired._ She appeared to have the ability to find the tackiest clothing in the entire store to try on, and that was saying something considering that _everything_ in the store was tacky. 

“What do you think of this?” she asked, coming out of the dressing room once more. 

She was in an indecently short jean skirt, cut all wrong for her thighs, and a leopard print shirt—seriously leopard print—that barely contained her cleavage and was far too long to pair well with such a short skirt. Eliot could not with this woman. 

“Why don’t I find you a few pieces to try?” he asked. 

“So, you don’t like it?” 

“I didn’t say that,” he rushed out, eyes flickering over to Lipson glaring at him from across the store. “I just think we can do even better.” 

She didn’t object, so he turned his back on her to try to find something better. Not that it would be hard, considering what she was already wearing. Unfortunately for him and the tragically dressed woman, Julia was blocking his path, glare firmly in place and hands on her hips. 

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked. “I do have other places to be, you know.” 

And, fair. He’d left her out there for almost an hour now, but this was important. 

“Quick,” he whispered. “Buy something.” 

“What?” 

“Please?” he begged. “I’m doing a trial run, and it is not going well.” 

Julia rolled her eyes but reached over to the garment rack next to her and snatched up a skirt. It was short enough to almost be a belt with a tiered hem that fell strangely in waves, and it was mustard yellow. 

“What about this?” she asked, eyes damn near shining with mischief. 

“Are you sure that will go well with your complexion?” he asked. 

“Yes. I think it would be perfect to wear to my ex-fiancé’s funeral, don’t you think?” 

She looked up at him, the picture of innocence. Eliot bit the side of his cheek hard enough to hurt and wished with all his heart for her to burst into flames. Unfortunately, she didn’t. Even more unfortunately, Lipson was still staring at him. 

“Of course, miss. Can I help you find anything else?” 

“No, thank you,” she said before raising her voice to an abnormally high volume. “You’ve been a wonderful help, young man. If only everyone was as helpful as you, I’d come here every day.” 

She walked over to the register, where Lipson was smiling brightly. Eliot wasn’t sure if he was more relieved or aghast that their ruse had worked. 

“Are you going to find me something, or what?” the forgotten woman demanded. 

Eliot sighed and went back to searching the racks. 

***

Eliot and Julia go to the diner to celebrate. After all, it wasn’t every day he started a new job in a brand new field. 

“Eliot got a new job,” Julia told Alice. 

“Congratulations!” Alice said, smiling. “Let me go get the champagne.” 

Eliot felt flushed at their praise. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think they really were excited for him. Hell, this was a new world—maybe they were. 

“So, when can I return the skirt?” Julia asked. 

“It’s only store credit, actually,” he said, smirking over at her. 

“Are you serious?” she demanded. “Fine, you’re buying drinks.” 

“Of course.” 

“And dessert.” 

“I suppose.” 

“And dinner.” 

“Please. It’s a twenty-dollar skirt, not a diamond ring.” 

Any cutting response from Julia was cut off by Alice returning with the bottle of champagne and three flutes. Eliot was surprised when she tried to sit down next to him in the booth but slid over to make room after her gentle nudge to his shoulder. Alice poured the drinks and passed them around. 

“To your first job,” Julia said, raising her flute in the air. 

“My first job was actually a Kid’s Gap commercial when I was six.” 

“To your first job,” Alice said next to him. 

Julia laughed. She truly was a bad influence on everyone around her. Eliot sighed, but gamely clinked his glass with theirs and sipped the champagne. Julia was laughing into her drink, and Alice was smiling down at hers. Eliot kicked Julia under the table and elbowed Alice in the side. He couldn’t believe these were his people—god save him. He smiled and took another sip. 

***

Margo woke up to the front door banging shut. She bolted upright, forehead colliding with Penny’s chin. She rubbed her pounding head while Penny cursed and did the same to his chin. 

“Sorry,” Eliot said, but he was laughing, the ass. 

He stumbled further into the room, toed off his shoes, and catapulted himself into her bed to curl around her, despite Penny’s presence on the other side of her bed. 

“Are you drunk?” she demanded. 

“A little,” he muttered into her hair. 

Margo tried to not find it cute that Penny wasn’t getting up even though Eliot’s head was now leaning against his shoulder next to hers but failed. It was cute. They were cute, her stupid boys. 

“Drowning away your sorrows?” she asked, patting his cheek consolingly. 

“Celebrating,” he corrected her. 

“You got it?” she demanded. 

“Yup,” he said, smile lazy and drunk. 

“Got what?” Penny asked, rumbling voice shaking both her and Eliot’s heads. 

“Job,” Eliot said. 

“Congrats, dude.” 

But Eliot didn’t respond. He’d closed his eyes and was snuggling down into the mattress and Penny both, drunkenly oblivious of the awkward position he’d put Penny in. 

“Uh—” Penny said. 

Margo tried not to laugh. 

“Margo?” Penny asked in a whisper. 

Margo pretended to be asleep, curious what he would do. After a few moments, he sighed quietly to himself. She heard the click of the television being turned off and was jostled slightly by him reaching toward the lamp to turn it off as well. Beside her, Eliot grunted his complaint. Penny sighed again, louder this time, but adjusted himself into a horizontal position on the mattress, lowering them with him. She felt him pull the blankets up to Eliot’s chin, then her own. Margo wondered if he reserved such sweetness for when no one was around to witness it. She slung her arm more firmly around him and felt Eliot squirm until his back was pressed against hers. She fell asleep warm and content, the sound of both her boys breathing lulling her to sleep. 


	13. Jazzagals

Penny stretched contentedly. Based on the light filtering into the barn, it was still early. He felt relaxed and well-rested. Unfortunately, that all went away when he looked over to where Margo was sitting up, back pressed against his headboard. She looked like she’d been awake for a while and had not been having a good time of it. He sat up next to her, close enough to press his arm into hers, but didn’t. 

“I feel like we used to talk more,” she said into the deafening silence. 

Penny didn’t know what to say to that. Had they? He wasn’t good at words, didn’t understand how to use them. What came out of his mouth was rarely what he meant, and most of the time, it didn’t even occur to him that he should say anything at all. 

“We just know each other better,” he said, tapping her arm with his. “It’s been months. We can express ourselves through silence just as well now.” 

“Okay,” she said. “I can do silence.” 

Penny couldn’t help the laugh that burst from his mouth. He tried to cover it with a cough, but Margo had that angry furrow between her brows, so it must not have worked. 

“What?” she demanded. 

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just that you—you really can’t be quiet.” 

“Yes, I can.” 

“You need to talk about everything, and I don’t,” Penny said. 

“If I stop talking, who knows when we’re going to start again.” 

Penny looked over to her. She was clenching her hands tightly, clearly trying not to fidget. They were starting to turn blotchy and white. He reached over to her and grabbed her hand, running his fingers over it soothingly. The furrow was still there, right between her eyebrows. 

Was he supposed to say something? What was he supposed to say? He didn’t understand why this wasn’t enough—her hand clasped in his, just being together. The silence continued. Penny didn’t break it. Neither did Margo. 

***

Eliot sat alone in the diner, feeling morose. Margo was off with Penny somewhere, Julia was at work, and even Alice was standing a few tables down, laughing happily with a group of other women. Eliot was lonely, loathe as he was to admit it, even in his own head. He looked over at the full table, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t jealous of these people who’d stolen Alice’s attention. He _wasn’t._

Alice finally looked over to him, smile dropping as she rushed over. 

“Sorry!” she said. “I didn’t see you come in.” 

“It’s fine. You were busy with what I can only assume is a celebration of some kind?” he asked. 

“Oh,” Alice said, looking back over her shoulder. “No, that’s the Jazzagals, our singing group.” 

Eliot looked over at them. Of the ten-or-so women seated at the large table, he only recognized Zelda and Marina. But it was a _singing group_. Maybe they’d let him sit in, just for a bit. He hadn’t been around music in such a long time, and besides, he and Alice were friends, weren’t they? 

“When do you meet?” he asked. 

“Usually every Monday night,” Alice said. “Why?” 

Today was Monday. Eliot didn’t want to seem desperate, but well, he was. Desperate for company mostly, but now that he was thinking about it, being surrounded by singing sounded like heaven on earth. Besides, Alice would be there. 

“I could come sit in on one of your meetings if you’d like,” he said, examining his nails in what he hoped was a nonchalant way. “I’m a competent singer.” 

“Oh,” Alice stuttered out. “Let me ask Zelda.” 

While Alice went back over to the crowded table, Eliot peeked over at Zelda with one eye, still trying to pretend to be occupied with his nails. He didn’t hear what Alice said, but Zelda’s response carried. 

“Of course, he can,” Zelda said. “He’s such a precious soul, isn’t he?” 

Eliot’s face immediately warmed, and he wasn’t sure if he should feel flattered or insulted. If Marina’s laughter from beside Zelda was anything to go by, probably the latter. Alice came back over to him, smile looking bright and almost excited. 

“You’re welcome to come,” she said. “If you come back here around six, we can go together.” 

“I’ll see you then,” Eliot said, getting up and walking out of the diner with a wave. 

He was so busy trying to appear nonchalant, he didn’t realize that he’d forgotten to get anything to eat until he was already back at the hotel. Damn. 

***

Margo almost gasped when Penny left the bathroom. All that facial hair that had helped Eliot coin his mountain man moniker was just gone. His cheeks looked smoother than her legs had ever been. She wasn’t sure what to do with this. 

“You shaved,” she said, lost for words. 

Penny nodded but didn’t otherwise reply. 

“But your beard is like my favorite thing about you,” she said, without thinking. 

Penny froze, arms still in the air, towel draped over his head from where he’d been drying his hair. Only then did Margo realize what she’d just said. 

“My beard is your favorite thing about me?” he asked. 

“Of course not,” Margo backtracked. “You just walked out of the bathroom with a whole new face. There’s a lot happening right now.” 

“Tell me about it. I just found out that my girlfriend’s favorite thing about me is the hair that grows out of my face.” 

Penny threw the towel onto the ground and crossed his arms. Margo didn’t know what to say. That’s not what she’d meant, but she’d _said_ it. Where was she supposed to go from here? 

“I just wish you’d talked to me about it,” she said. 

Penny sighed, dropping his crossed arms, but the way his shoulders slumped in on themselves was even worse. He was a big guy, but in that instant, he looked small. 

“I thought we had a deeper thing going on,” he said. 

“It’s not about that. This is just me being left out of the loop.” 

She walked up to him and cupped his face. He smiled down at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Margo’s stomach clenched. Why did every conversation they had feel like they were each talking about different things? 

***

Penny rubbed his smooth cheek, wishing he’d never done it. Margo had freaked out, and maybe it wasn’t about the facial hair, but it was about _something_. He wanted to go back to this morning and stop himself from doing it, or maybe back to when he was a child and teach himself how to fucking communicate. Was it supposed to be this hard? Being with Alice never had been, but it had also never been right. 

“You shaved your beard,” Alice exclaimed, walking over to their booth. “I like it. It makes you look younger.” 

“Thank you, Alice. That means a lot,” he said, looking pointedly over at Margo. 

Margo looked down at the table, eyes drawn and sad. Penny immediately felt guilty. 

“What can I get started for you?” Alice asked. 

She looked happier than she’d ever been with him. Maybe he was the problem here; he was the common denominator as to why both of his favorite girls looked so sad when they were with him. 

They ordered coffee and dessert, and then uncomfortable silence descended around them once more. 

“I just feel like something’s changed between us,” Margo said. 

Penny reached across the table to grab her hand. She didn’t pull away, but her hand didn’t flip and close around his. It just laid there beneath his. He squeezed it anyway. 

“I don’t know if anything changed,” he said. “I think maybe we know each other better now. Maybe that’s the problem.” 

“I’m not saying there’s a problem. Maybe just some adjustments to make this work.” 

“Like what?” 

“Well, you could talk more,” she said. 

Penny nodded, but when she stared at him, clearly waiting for a verbal reply, he felt like his tongue swelled up in his mouth, and he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. He nodded again. Margo frowned. 

“And I could talk less and listen more,” she finished. 

Penny cleared his throat, trying to find the right words. 

“And are you willing to make these adjustments?” he asked. 

“Are you?” 

He doesn’t say anything—doesn’t have anything to say. 

Her hand twitched beneath his, and when Alice came back with the cake and coffee, she pulled her hand out from beneath his and placed it in her lap. Alice left them to it without a word, clearly sensing the tension. 

They both stared at the cake at the center of the table, neither making a move for the fork. Margo’s eyes were moving back and forth from the fork, to the cake, to Penny’s eyes, awkwardly smiling up at him. He doesn’t know what she’s trying to say, couldn’t seem to make himself just ask. It wasn’t working, was it? He wanted it to, desperately. But it wasn’t. Maybe it’s his fault. 

The next time Margo’s eyes met his, they hold. Her face fell, eyes big and sad. He almost wanted to take it back, reach into his head and pluck whatever thought was showing on his face and crush it. But he’d already thought it, and she’d already seen it. 

She nodded, eyes glistening with tears he knew she wouldn’t let fall. He nodded back, and _oh._ They’re done, aren’t they? He bypassed the cake and reached across the table for her hand. She pulled it out from under the table, and this time, she clasped his hand tightly. They gazed at each other for a long time. Penny couldn’t help but smile. After all, it was only here at the end that they’d finally learned to communicate. Margo smiled back, just as sad as he was sure his own face was. 

***

Alice looked over to Penny, worried. Margo had left almost an hour ago, and he was still sitting there, staring down at the untouched cake. She wasn’t sure how Penny felt about her nowadays, but he was still her best friend, and she couldn’t just leave him like this. 

She walked over to his table and hovered by the vacant bench, unsure of her welcome. Penny didn’t even look up. 

“Are you okay?” Alice asked. 

“We broke up,” Penny replied. 

It took her a moment to realize that he meant him and Margo, not them. She sat down. 

“Oh,” she said. “I’m so sorry.” 

Penny finally looked up at her. His eyes were dry, but unhappy enough that it didn’t matter. 

“Is it me?” he asked. “Am I why it never works?” 

Alice reached for his hand, but he pulled his away. That stung, but she ignored it. He was in pain, and they were…complicated. 

“No,” she said, trying to make her voice firm and sure. “You’re not the problem.” 

“Then, why?” 

“I don’t know,” Alice said. “People are complicated. Whatever it was that broke you two up, it wasn’t just you. Sometimes things don’t work out.” 

“What about you? Why didn’t we work out, Alice?” 

She didn’t know what to say, but he was clearly waiting for an answer. Alice thought about all the quiet moments she’d shared with Penny, all the nights and days when she’d told him everything about herself, and how it had twisted in her head and gone all wrong. She thought about Margo, and how she’d flirted when they’d first met, and Alice had _blushed._

“I think maybe it would have never worked,” she said, looked down at her hands where they were now clenched around the edge of the table. “Maybe it was my fault.” 

“What do you mean?” he asked. 

“I think maybe—” she started, then lost her nerve. 

Penny didn’t say anything, didn’t rush her, and god. She missed him so much. When she looked up from the table, he was looking back at her, patiently waiting for her to get her nerve. He’d always been so good at that, and Alice damn-near ached with wishing it could have worked. She looked back down at the table, unable to meet his eyes. Not for this next part. 

“I think I might like girls,” she said, looking down at the table. 

Penny didn’t say anything, but this time it freaked her out. She’d never told anyone that, and Penny was her _best friend_. She didn’t know what she would do if he reacted badly. She didn’t know what to do at all and was on the verge of hyperventilating when Penny’s hand reached across the table to grab hers. 

“Are you okay?” he asked. 

“I’m sorry, this was supposed to be about you,” she said. 

She tried to use her free hand to wipe away the tears building beneath her eyes, but her glasses got in the way. Penny squeezed her hand, and she let them fall. 

“It’s okay,” he said. “Thanks for telling me.” 

Alice tried to take deep breaths, but they hitched more than anything. She was grateful for his hand in hers, even if she didn’t know what it meant. 

“Did you know—” he stuttered out. “Did you know when you were with me?” 

“No,” Alice said. “I’m not even sure, I just—Margo—” 

Penny laughed. Alice stopped crying, shocked by the sudden burst of noise. 

“Are you telling me—” he started, faltering over his continued laughter, “—that my ex-girlfriend had her gay awakening over my other ex-girlfriend?” 

Just like that, Alice was laughing right along with him, hands still linked between them. When they finally started to settle down, Alice accidentally pulled his hand into the frosting of the cake, and they started up once more. 

“I’ve missed you,” she said when the laughter had finally ceased. 

“Missed you, too,” he said. 

Alice looked back down at the table, feeling awkward and shy and maybe like her life was finally meandering in the right direction. 

“Do you think maybe we could be friends again?” she asked. 

“I’d like that,” he said. “I could use a friend right about now.” 

With that, he was clearly done with words for the day. He pulled the cake toward him and started eating it. Alice took a breath, maybe the first one she’d taken in months, or ever, really. Maybe, just maybe, things would be okay. 

***

Eliot was late. He was late because he was nervous, and he was even more nervous because he was late. It was a ridiculous little dilemma he’d found himself in. As he pushed open the door to the diner, he almost hoped Alice had left without him. But, no—there she was. 

“You’re late,” she accused with a small shy smile thrown his way. 

“So I am,” he replied. 

She walked up to him, apron already off, and linked her arm in his as she dragged him out the door. He wondered where this newfound touchy-feely side of her had come from, but when along with it regardless. 

“Are you nervous?” she asked. 

“Why on earth would I be nervous?” 

“You don’t fool me,” she said, emphasizing her words with a little yank to his arm. “You’re just a gooey little marshmallow under that suave exterior.” 

Eliot cleared his throat but didn’t speak. He wasn’t soft, wasn’t _gooey_ , so there was nothing to admit to. 

“Don’t worry. You’ll be with me!” 

He glanced over to her. Her smile was bright, and she was practically skipping down the sidewalk at his side. Eliot had never seen her this carefree. It was unexpected, but nice. 

“I will be, won’t I?” he replied with a little smile of his own and a squeeze to her arm. 

***

Eliot felt like his skin was itching. He’d spent the past twenty minutes listening to them sing. They were wonderful, for the most part, at least, but he was dying to join in. It’d gotten so bad that he was currently sitting on his hands to stop himself from gesturing to the music. After all, he was here for Alice. She had a delicate voice that rang true and clear through the room, if occasionally pitchy. They were all so much better than he’d expected. 

“Why don’t you try a song for us?” Zelda asked. 

Eliot whipped his head around, not having noticed all eyes turning toward him. Despite wanting just this a moment before, he found himself freezing in his chair. It’d been so long. What if he’d lost his spark? 

“I wouldn’t want to impose on your rehearsal,” he said, voice steady. 

“Nonsense, Precious,” she said. “We’d all love to hear you sing.” 

She walked over to him, held her hand out expectantly for him to take, unnerving gaze never wavering. Eliot sighed, but let her pull him to his feet and lead him toward the front of the room. Then? He sang. 

It came back to him like breathing, like the beat of his heart, like living. He’d forgotten this part of himself—the part that came alive at the feel of his falsetto voice reverberating within him, and out into the world. Eliot closed his eyes and swayed to the music, transfixed by the music and the emotion pouring from him. 

He didn’t open his eyes until the last tone had dwindled and died. Only once he was done did he realize that they were all staring at him, and there were the nerves again. Was he bad? Why were Alice’s eyes that wide? Why was Zelda smiling that brightly? And why in god’s name did Marina look like the cat who had caught the canary? This silence was terrifying. 

“Eliot,” Alice said, sounding breathless. 

“What?” Eliot demanded. 

He crossed his arms, hugging his elbows with the palms of his hands and tried not to twitch at their continued scrutiny. He should have never come. 

“That was beautiful,” Alice said. 

Eliot’s train of thought stuttered and stalled. Oh. Oh. So, she’d…liked it? Zelda walked up to him, eyes shining and smile still clinging to the corners of her face. When she reached for his hand, he let her, but was shocked when she brought it to her lips for a gentle kiss, as if he was a fair maiden she was wooing. Behind Zelda, Alice was laughing. Eliot shot her a glare but didn’t move. 

“Eliot,” Zelda said. “Dearest Eliot. You must join the Jazzagals. That was far too beautiful not to.” 

“I—oh.” 

“Won’t you?” she prompted. 

Eliot pulled his hand free. He looked down at the knee of his jeans and picked a thread on it. He was floored. Hell, he was downright thrilled. But he couldn’t let them know that. 

“I suppose I could try to work it into my schedule,” he said, still not looking up. 

Alice pulled him into a hug. He put his chin on her head and contemplated how weird his day had been. Good, but weird. 

***

“You’re really good,” Alice said. 

If anything, she was downplaying it. Alice was in awe of him. There was no other word for how she’d felt watching Eliot sing, becoming more and more confident as the seconds ticked on. 

“Thank you,” Eliot said. “It’s been a while.” 

She looked over at him. He was looking down at his feet as they walked along the sidewalk. Alice could swear she saw a blush blooming on his cheeks. She did. Eliot was _blushing._

“How did it feel?” she asked. 

“It felt—” he paused, clearly at a loss for words. 

She didn’t fill the silence, just waited for him to find his words. 

“It felt like remembering a part of myself,” he said. “Like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, and everything else just fell away.” 

Alice really didn’t. She wasn’t sure that she’d ever felt like that, about anything really. Jealousy curdled in her stomach, but she pushed it away. This was Eliot, and he was precious. If anyone deserved to feel that way, it was him. 

“Yeah,” she said. 

A comfortable silence descended between them. The kind that was shared between people who had been friends much longer than they had. Or at least Alice hoped they were friends. She desperately wanted to be and had since she’d seen him scoop Julia up, and watched them become the sort of fast friends she’d only ever read about in books. The closest she’d ever come to that was Penny, but it had been fraught with romance and misunderstandings. 

“I didn’t know you lived this way,” Eliot said as the motel came into sight. 

“I don’t,” Alice said. “But someone as _precious_ as you are must be walked home. Who knows what could happen otherwise?” 

Eliot whacked her arm, laughing. Alice smiled down at her shoes. She walked him all the way to his door, and as he bid her goodnight, she tried not to think about the empty apartment that was waiting for her. 

***

Margo was sitting in her bed when Eliot walked in. She looked wrecked—eyes swollen and red. Eliot’s eyes ached in sympathy just looking at her. 

Before he could ask, she spoke. 

“Penny and I broke up,” she said. 

She looked up at him, lower lip trembling. Eliot rushed to her bed and sat down next to her. He put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. She sank down into him, boneless and weak. Eliot didn’t know what to do. Margo so rarely cried that when she did, it was jarring. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. 

She sniffled and nodded into his shoulder. Eliot had never seen her like this after a breakup. He’d never seen her shed a tear over it, much less whatever this was. 

“Even though the sex was amazing—like really amazing,” she said. “There was this one time in the barn where I climbed up on a rafter—” 

“No, yeah,” he interrupted. “I think we’re good.” 

Blessedly, Margo stopped. Eliot wanted to be here for her, but if he had to hear about her sex life, he might burst into flames. 

“We both agreed that we’ve been lusting after each other for such a long time that that’s what we were holding on to, and not what was right in front of us.” 

Eliot squeezed her arm. He didn’t know what to say—had never been put into a situation where he had to comfort someone else over a breakup like this. 

“I’m sorry.” 

They sat in silence. Eliot curbed his impulse to flee, and instead squeezed her shoulders a little tighter. 

“I think he changed me a little bit,” she said, voice quiet and wistful. “Like he knows me. I let him know me, you know?” 

“I know.” 

Eliot put his other arm around her and pulled her to his chest. They stayed like that for a long time. 


	14. Alone Time

Eliot couldn’t find the shirt he wanted to wear. He’d rifled through the entirety of his closet but found nothing. He walked over to his bed and kneeled to look under it.

“Don’t look under there!” Margo shouted. 

But it was too late. Clothes and shoes were jammed into every empty crevice with no organization in sight. He scooted over to her bed, and yup—underneath hers looked just the same. He sat back on his heels and looked up at where she was sitting on the edge of her bed. 

“What?” 

“Bambi, what the fuck?” 

“I’ve been a little busy,” she said defensively. 

“Look at your things,” he said. “Look at your choices!” 

Margo grumbled but didn’t defend herself. Eliot looked under his bed once more but decided his shirt just wasn’t worth the hassle, if it was even down there. He got up to go peruse his closet once more. 

“I need the room tonight,” she said. “I’m having a friend over?” 

“What friend?” he asked. 

Did Margo have friends? Well, besides him of course. 

“Alice. We’re having a sleepover.” 

Eliot abandoned his closet. There were more important things right now, like whatever delusional spell Margo had fallen under. 

“You two aren’t friends.” 

“Yes, we are,” she asserted. “We have tea almost every day.” 

“That she serves you,” he said. 

“So?” 

Eliot gave up. Margo had decided what was happening, and there would be no talking her out of it. So, Margo and Alice were friends now. He wondered how Alice would react when she found out. 

***

Margo waited at the counter for Alice to finish up with a customer. Her foot was tapping rhythmically, growing faster with each minute that passed. Finally, Alice walked behind the counter, shy smile already in place. 

“Margo,” she said. “What can I get started for you?” 

She pulled a pad of paper out of her apron pocket, and held a pen to it, ready to write. Margo cleared her throat. 

“Actually, I’m here to invite you to a girl’s night.” 

“Oh,” Alice said, pocketing the pen and paper once more. “But I’m working tonight.” 

“Well, what time do you get off?” she asked. 

“Whenever people leave.” 

Margo hadn’t prepared herself for anything but immediate acceptance. She wasn’t sure where to go from here. The silence lengthened, stagnant and uncomfortable. Alice grabbed a rag and began studiously wiping down the counter separating them. 

“You know,” Alice said, not looking up from her task. “When I broke up with Penny, I took a lot of time to rebuild and regroup, and I think that’s important.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Margo said. “I’m doing that, too.” 

The silence descended once more, and Margo just wanted to get out of here. She shouldn’t have asked in the first place. 

“Just stop by if you get off work early,” Margo said. 

She didn’t wait for a reply. Just walked out the door, trying in vain not to look like she was running away. 

***

Julia was lounging in the yellow chair when he found her, basking in the sunny day. Eliot plopped down beside her and shook a cigarette free from his pack and lit it with a drag. Julia didn’t even look up from her phone. 

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked. 

“I’m going to a bar to meet someone,” she said. 

“Who?” 

“I don’t know yet.” 

Eliot laughed around his cigarette. Julia smiled down at her phone. 

“I’m coming,” he said. 

She finally put her phone down, shoving it into her pocket with a roll of her eyes. 

“No, you’re not.” 

“Come on. We can be each other’s wingmen,” he wheedled. “Now, how diverse is the clientele at this local drinkery?” 

“I would say very,” she replied with a laugh. 

Eliot was happy to have somewhere to go other than his hotel room and whatever awkward and disastrous slumber party Margo and Alice would be having. 

“I can’t remember what life was like before dating apps,” he said. “I’m both excited and terrified.” 

Julia stole his cigarette and took a drag. Eliot glared. 

“I don’t think I ever said you could come.” 

“What should I wear?” 

***

The lobby door swung open. Julia didn’t look up. The couch’s springs protested from across the room as someone’s weight settled on them. She still didn’t look up. Someone cleared their throat once, twice, three times. Julia finally looked up. Margo was settled on the couch, rifling through the magazines on the coffee table. 

“Are you waiting for someone?” Julia asked. 

“No, I’m just getting some me-time,” Margo replied. 

Julia stared at her. What the hell was she talking about? In what universe did this constitute as me-time? 

“Am I getting in the way of that or—” 

“No, you’re good.” 

Julia stared for a few more seconds. Margo kept reading the magazine she had settled on, completely ignoring her. Well, far be it from her to be rude to the unpaying guests. She went back to her game of sudoku. 

“You’re alone a lot,” Margo said, still not looking up from her magazine. 

Julia was pretty sure she should feel insulted but was too confused to care. 

“Thanks.” 

“Is it hard for you?” she asked. “Being by yourself so much?” 

Julia thought about her job, thought about her empty apartment and her life. She was fine with it, liked it even, for the most part. She didn’t dwell on the times late in the night when she really really didn’t. 

“No,” Julia said. “I like my own company.” 

Margo was staring at her now, eyes fixed on her face so intently that it made her uncomfortable. It was as if she was trying to see _into_ Julia, figure out why she was who she was, but wasn’t finding what she wanted. Julia thought she looked almost desperate—sad and desperate. But then Margo went back to her magazine, so Julia went back to her sudoku. They didn’t talk again. 

***

Margo watched Eliot get dressed, feeling forlorn. First Alice had turned her down, and now Eliot was very clearly getting dressed to go out. She’d told him to clear out, but still. 

“On a scale from one to I’m gonna get beat up by an angry local, where do we see this look fall?” he asked. 

She eyed him up and down. He was in a customary button-down, this time in subdued grey with blue stripes. But the way he had tucked his shirt in, and the way he’d cuffed his jeans to show off his socks looked decidedly gay. 

“Like an easy six,” she answered. 

Eliot turned his back on her to check himself out in the mirror, before nodding to himself, clearly pleased. 

“Julia and I are going to a sketchy bar to pick up boys,” he told her. 

Margo looked at his back. She felt adrift, like the moment he left, she’d get swallowed by her own loneliness. She pushed that down. Julia had the right idea. She should enjoy her own company, shouldn’t she? Bar hopping wasn’t exactly conducive to that. Besides, Eliot hadn’t even invited her. 

“You could come,” he threw out, gathering up his wallet, keys, and phone from around the room. 

Margo wanted to. She really really did. 

“I told myself I’d enjoy my own company tonight,” she said. 

Eliot turned toward her, eyebrows raised in incredulity. Margo crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. 

“Okay, well we’re going to a bar, and you’re on the rebound, so text me when you’re dressed.” 

“I’m not coming,” she said. 

“Sure.” 

Eliot opened and closed the door, leaving Margo alone with her thoughts. 

***

Alice had no idea what she was doing here. She stared at the door, willing herself to just leave. But Margo had looked almost _sad_ when Alice had turned her down, and she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. 

There was a small voice inside Alice reminding her that Margo and Penny had broken up, and if there was ever a time, then maybe this was it—Alice tamped it down. She was here as a friend, nothing more. Besides, this was _Margo_ /, and she’d never showed an interest before. 

Alice stared at the door, turned to go, turned back to the door. She knocked and immediately regretted it. Alice wondered if she could hide somewhere before the door opened. Before she could even turn around, the door opened. 

“Alice!” Margo said. 

She was in a deep purple robe and had tied her hair into a haphazard bun. Most notably, she had a green face mask covering her face. Even like this, Alice thought she was beautiful. 

“You came!” she said, sounding almost relieved. “Come on, I just put the face mask on. I’ll put one on you, so you can catch up.” 

She grabbed Alice by the hand and pulled her inside, shutting the door behind her. Alice looked around the small living space. Despite how long Eliot and Margo had been living there, it still looked like a generic motel room, if slightly messy. Before she could get a good look around, Margo pushed her down on a bed. 

She grabbed a tub of what looked like an expensive Korean face mask and kneeled down between Alice’s thighs. Her breathing stuttered when Margo grabbed her chin and began applying the mask to her face. It was cool to the touch, but all Alice could focus on were Margo’s fingers trailing across her skin. 

“You have good skin already,” Margo said. “But a little TLC never hurt anyone.” 

“Thanks,” Alice said. 

Her voice came out rough and low. Margo met her eyes and smiled wryly. Alice cleared her throat, willing herself to reign it in. She needed to think of something else, anything besides Margo kneeling between her spread thighs, and touching her so— 

“So how are you doing?” Alice asked. “With the breakup, I mean.” 

Margo didn’t answer right away. She scooped more of the mask onto her fingers, and spread it across her forehead, then leaned back, done with her ministrations. She grabbed a washcloth from the bedside table and wiped her fingers clean, sitting on her heels and using her free hand to balance herself with the help of Alice’s thigh. 

“it’s okay,” Margo said. “I miss him, you know?” 

Alice nodded. She knew intimately what it was like to miss Penny when he was gone from your life. 

“And I really miss the sex,” Margo said. “It was just so _good,_ you know?” 

Alice didn’t know. But now she was picturing Margo in all kinds of compromising positions, and her hand was still on Alice’s thigh. Her face was hot enough to catch fire, and she was suddenly very grateful for the face mask now covering the entirety of her face. 

She could feel her long-ignored crush igniting in her stomach, and fuck. This was going to be a long night. 

***

Julia looked around the bar, feeling glum. Beside her, Eliot was doing the same, sipping on his drink. Besides the bartender, there were only three other people in the entire place: two incredibly drunk old men, and a woman sitting alone eating nachos in a booth in the corner. 

“It’s not usually this dead,” Julia said. “It’s like someone saw you coming and left.” 

“Ha ha,” Eliot said. “They probably remembered whatever embarrassing thing you did last time you were here and fled the state.” 

“Please,” she replied. “Do you see what I’m wearing? Who would flee from this?” 

She did look good, if she did say so herself. She’d put on her tightest pair of jeans and a scoop neck shirt that showed off an almost obscene amount of cleavage, and a leather jacket thrown over the whole thing. She’d even put on make-up for once, and the whole thing had been wasted. Who was here to appreciate it? No one, that’s who. 

“You do look superb,” Eliot said. “It’s not exactly brimming with options though, is it?” 

“No,” Julia said. 

They sat in silence, quietly drinking. Julia couldn’t believe that this was what her dating life had become: sitting at a bar where the most eligible person in the place was the middle-aged bartender. Or maybe nacho girl, she supposed. Well, fuck that. This may not be the night she’d planned for, but she was here with Eliot, and they were going to have a good time god damn it. 

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s play pool.” 

Eliot followed her to the pool table with only moderate amounts of complaining, for which she was grateful. She racked the balls, sliding them expertly into place before removing the rack and grabbing a cue stick. 

“You wanna break?” she asked. 

“From what?” 

Julia smiled. This was going to be fun. She handed him his cue stick and prepared to fleece him for everything he had. 

***

Margo stood in the bathroom, wiping her face mask off with a washcloth. Beside her, Alice watched her movements, her own washcloth hanging limply in her fingers. Once finished, she patted her face dry and rubbed some argan oil into her tender skin. Alice was still staring, and Margo was starting to get an inkling of what was going on with the girl. 

“Here, let me help you,” she said, grabbing the washcloth out of her unresponsive fingertips. 

In small, gentle circles, Margo wiped Alice’s face clean, finding blushing cheeks underneath all that green face mask. Alice stood stock still until she was done. Margo wasn’t even sure she was breathing. The spell wasn’t broken until Margo put the washcloth down and tapped Alice’s nose teasingly with her finger. Alice audibly gasped and turned to leave. 

“Get back here, Kittycat,” Margo said. 

Alice turned back around immediately, breathing quiet but ragged. Margo picked the argan oil back up and began massaging it into Alice’s face with slow, firm strokes of her fingers. 

“Don’t want your skin drying out, now do we?” 

Alice’s response sounded more like a guttural groan than the “no” Margo was pretty sure she’d meant it to be Alice’s eyes fluttered closed, and Margo ran the pads of her thumbs gently across her eyelids. Alice’s next breath was gasping and ragged, and that’s what did it. That sound went straight to Margo’s libido, and suddenly she wanted this, whatever it was. 

She dropped one of her hands to her side. Alice’s eyes flew open, but Margo didn’t drop her other hand from her face. She trailed her fingers gently down her face to cup the side of Alice’s neck. Margo tried to meet her eyes, but Alice kept darting hers down to Margo’s lips. 

“Do you want this?” Margo asked, punctuating her question by sliding her hand to the back of Alice’s neck and a gentle squeeze. 

Alice gasped, and she was really starting to love that sound. 

“What?” Alice asked. 

She wasn’t bothering to look away from Margo’s lips anymore—just staring hungrily at her mouth and biting her own lip hard enough to leave a mark. Margo leaned in to whisper, close enough to make her breath ghost over the shell of her ear. 

“Me.” 

She leaned back to look her in the eyes. Alice nodded, a small but sure gesture. 

“I need to hear you say it, Kittycat.” 

“Yes,” Alice said. 

Margo put her free hand on Alice’s waist and pulled her in. Alice pressed her body to Margo’s willingly, face upturned and lips wanting. And finally, Margo kissed her. Her lips were butter-soft, and all plans to keep this slow went out the window when Alice gasped again, mouth open and wanting. 

Margo devoured her, pulling her impossibly closer. She bit her bottom lip, just to hear the whine she knew Alice would make, and she was right. It was delicious. 

Margo lost herself in Alice. She needed more. She spun them around and picked Alice up— barely able to lift her even with her small stature—and put her on the bathroom counter. Margo crowded back into her space, hands on her ass as she urged her to wrap her legs around Margo’s waist. She did. Margo groaned at the pleasurable grind. 

She yanked Alice’s top off and took a moment to admire how sexy Alice was right then, hair disheveled and lips swollen as she yanked her own bra off, not even bothering to unfasten it, she was so impatient. 

Margo lost herself in Alice again, lost herself to bruised knees as Alice’s thighs wrapped around her head, and she slowly came undone under her tongue. She lost herself to soft sheets, and a slow coaxing of Alice’s fingers and tongue, demanding to be touched just how she liked it, just the way she wanted it—and Alice obliged. 

When Margo drifted to sleep that night with Alice naked next to her in bed, she idly wondered if Alice would be amendable to keeping this little benefit going as their friendship blossomed. 

***

Eliot opened the door as quietly as he could, surprised that the light was out. Had Margo stayed in alone instead of coming out? That was entirely out of character. He turned on the lamp by his bed, and oh. Oh, _fuck_ no. Margo was indeed sleeping in her bed, covers pulled up to her chin—thank god for small mercies—but beside her was none other than Alice. 

Thanks to the strategically placed blanket, he couldn’t see anything untoward, but based on the clothes scattered all around the bed and the hickey he could see blooming on Alice’s neck, something decidedly risqué had occurred while he was gone. 

“Nope,” he said to no one in particular. 

He turned off the lamp, and walked right out the door once more, locking it behind him. After digging out his phone, he called the only person he could. 

“Julia?” he said. “Can I stay at your place?” 

***

Alice opened her eyes when Eliot closed the door. Part of her was mortified that he’d seen her in such a compromising position, in his sister’s _bed_ , even, but she more preoccupied with what had just happened. 

She’d never had sex like that, not with Penny or any other man. She hadn’t known that it could feel like that. Her limbs were loose, and she was wrung out in the most pleasant sense of the word. This must be why everyone was so obsessed with it—sex was supposed to _feel_ good, and fuck if that hadn’t been the best she’d felt in her entire life. 

Alice turned her head toward Margo in the darkness and stared at her silhouette. What she’d thought had been a burning crush had been blown out somewhere around the third orgasm. It was just _gone_.

Where was her desire to reach for Margo in the darkness, just to hold her? Where was her longing for romantic dinners by candlelight or shared laughs over coffee? Neither of those things sounded bad, per se, but they didn’t sound any more desirable than they would if she were to do them with Penny, or even Eliot. 

The sex had been mind-blowingly good. Alice was pretty sure she’d even cried. But she couldn’t be gay, or she’d want something more, wouldn’t she? Margo was amazing in every conceivable way, but Alice felt nothing but the warmth of a kindling friendship, and even that was barely there—their interactions too one-sided and new. 

Maybe there was something wrong with her, on some fundamental level that couldn’t be seen. Alice rolled away, back toward Margo and all that she represented, but didn’t find sleep for a long time. 


	15. The Vet Clinic

Margo was leaving the diner when she saw her. She had on pristine white pants, an eye-catching pink leather jacket with a matching helmet covering the entirety of her head and was currently straddling a motorcycle. Margo wouldn’t mind being that motorcycle right about then. 

“Nice bike,” she called over the sound of the motor.

The motor cut, and Margo unabashedly looked at the woman’s ass as she leaned forward and swung her leg over the bike and stood. She pulled the helmet off and tousled brown hair shook out in tangled waves. Margo was transfixed, but then the woman turned around and _oh._

“Margo!” Fen said, smiling happily. 

Margo didn’t respond, too stunned to even move. But Fen cradles her helmet under her arm—and even that’s somehow hot—and comes right up to her as if everything was fine. Margo cleared her throat.

“You look good,” she said. “Like, really good.”

“Thanks!” Fen said, smiling brightly.

“And you have a bike.”

“Yeah, well,” Fen said, and Margo was relieved to finally see discomfort in the twist of her lips. “I had all this money from the ring, and I’ve always wanted one, you know?”

“Right,” Margo said.

Silence descended, strange and stilted in a way that it had never been when they were together, and she missed Fen. She wouldn’t trade in what she’d had with Penny, even after their foundation had crumbled between them. But Fen was standing in front of her, and something deep within her ached. It was a new sort of hurt—something inside her had been born or awakened. Margo wondered if she could lull it back to sleep, or if she even wanted to. 

“You’re in a good place then?” Margo finally asked.

“Yeah,” Fen said. “You?”

“Uh, sure,” Margo said.

Silence fell. Neither of them tried to break it.

***

Eliot sat across from Lipson and tried not to fidget. She’d called him in for a one-on-one meeting—as if it wasn’t just the two of them in the store already—but had been shuffling the papers on her desk around for three minutes straight. He’d been watching the clock tick away the seconds with mounting dread.

“So—” he finally started.

“I’m going to have to let you go,” she interrupted.

Eliot froze, posture straitening and hands coming together to clasp in his lap. He could feel his fingernails digging into his palms painfully but couldn’t seem to stop.

“Did I—did I do something wrong?” he asked. 

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “No, of course not. You’ve just been buying so many things for the store—” 

“I thought you liked the changes I’ve made.”

“I do, but there have been a lot of charges, and we can’t quite afford to keep up with them and pay you.”

Eliot flexed his fingers, digging his fingers harder into his palms before forcing himself to stop. He put his palms flat on her desk and tried his best to meet her eyes. 

“It’s not your fault,” she said in a gentle voice. “You were my mistake.”

She was looking at him with soft eyes, trying her hand at kindness, but Eliot felt his stomach curdle and clench. Was this his fault? Why hadn’t she said anything?

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. “I’ve actually got a nice chunk of money coming in from a Blouse Barn all the way in Australia, can you believe it? And all I’ve got to do is rename the store.”

“How much?”

“Ten thousand,” she said. “Just to cover the cost of re-branding.”

“Ten _thousand_?” Eliot demanded. “Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you?”

“It’s just a gesture, Eliot. Not everyone has some ulterior motive,” she said. “Besides, nothing will be finalized until I meet with their representative.” 

Eliot could still feel his stomach clenching at being fired. He’d been deemed not good enough for even this lowly job. He hadn’t even _wanted_ this job, for god’s sake. 

“When’s this meeting?” he asked. “I think I should be there.” 

***

Margo tucked her phone back into her purse just as Alice came over to her table. 

“What can I get you?” she asked. 

“I’ll stick with the water, thanks.” 

Margo stared down at the table. Eliot had gotten _fired_. What were they going to do now? Their small funds from before were almost gone, and now there would be nothing else coming in. How were they going to eat? What were they going to do?

“Are you okay?” Alice asked hesitantly.

Margo looked up at her. Her eyes were averted, staring slightly to the left of Margo’s own. She looked wan and uncomfortable. Margo thought back to their sordid affair a few nights before and added that to her tally of sins.

“Yes,” Margo said, trying to inject a firmness into her voice that she didn’t feel. “I’m fine, Alice.”

Alice lingered by her table. She flicked her gaze toward Margo’s own, but blushed and looked away when she saw that Margo was looking back. Maybe there was something left to salvage from this relationship, at least. 

“Really,” Margo said.

A strand of hair came loose, from her ponytail, and Alice tucked it behind her ear.

“Let me know if you need anything,” she said.

She turned and left before Margo had a chance to respond. Maybe it was for the best. Margo had a million things on her mind but couldn’t think of anything to say. She stared into her water, took a sip, went back to staring into it. 

“The amount of times I’ve run into you in this is like out of a romantic comedy.”

Margo looked up, and there was Fen. This time, she was wearing a lavender leather jacket. She wondered how many Fen had bought.

Fen sat down across from her, smile far too chipper for Margo’s dour mood. Alice came over and took her order. Margo wondered why she was here, eating with her when in any conceivable world she should hate her. 

“No food today?” Fen asked.

“I forgot my purse.”

“I could cover you.”

Margo clenched her hands around the cup she was holding and tried to smile over at Fen. 

“No, because I’d have to pay you back,” she said. “And we’re sort of broke right now, so that would be a little hard, don’t you think?”

She hadn’t meant to say that. It had sounded bitter and wanting, two things Margo refused to ever be. Fen didn’t say anything. Margo went back to looking down at her water.

“You know,” she said conversationally. “I am looking for another secretary.”

“I’m not interested in your pity,” she snapped, an inferno of rage building in her sternum.

“It’s not pity!” Fen exclaimed, hands raised up in supplication. “I genuinely think you’d be good at it.”

Margo thought about the money that wasn’t in her wallet, the food she wouldn’t have, and more importantly, the coffee she wouldn’t be able to drink. She looked up at Fen’s kind smile and made a decision.

“But there would be animals around all the time?” she asked. 

Fen laughed. Margo joined in. 

***

Alice watched Eliot worriedly from across the diner. He’d been staring at his phone for almost an hour now, scrolling and typing on it with a steadily growing level of frenzy. She wasn’t sure what to do about it, if there was anything she should do at all. But this was _Eliot_. She had to say something. Mind made up, she took another table their coffees and walked over to him.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Eliot nodded, humming noncommittally but didn’t look up from his phone. Alice stood by his table, feeling uncomfortable. She tucked her hands into her pockets, determined to wait him out. He continued typing away for a few minutes, but finally put his phone down with a sigh.

“Do you know anything about copyright law?”

Alice didn’t.

“Why?” she asked.

“I have a meeting with some lawyers, and I’m trying to make sure they’re not taking advantage of Lipson. Poor thing is a hot mess.”

She sat down in the booth next to him, and he scooted down the bench with an affronted scoff. She picked up his phone to find it on a google results page for copyright laws. He lunged for the phone. Alice batted his hand away and began typing something new into the search engine. 

“I may not know anything yet, but I bet I can figure it out better than you.”

Eliot didn’t say anything, but he also wasn’t trying to steal his phone back from her, so she counted it as a win. 

“What is up with you today?” he asked.

Alice finally looked up from his phone to find him eyeing her, eyebrows raised and a delighted smile on his face. She smiled back.

“What can I say?” she asked. “I see a precious man in distress, and I have to jump to his aid.”

Eliot laughed, then crowded into her side with an arm slung across her shoulders. Alice froze, then slowly relaxed into the almost-hug. He squeezed her shoulder once, then looked over her head down at his phone still clutched in her hand.

“Now, what wizardry are you performing?”

Alice took that as her cue to continue. She scrolled to the right page, and they both began to read—to scheme. 

***

Margo couldn’t deal with this. The phone just kept ringing. Who knew being a secretary would be this goddamn stressful? She answered the call and put it on hold. Then, again. And again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself not to scream.

“Why are there four people on hold?” Fen asked.

Margo opened her eyes to see her standing next to her desk and clutching a clipboard to her chest. 

“Because they wouldn’t stop calling,” Margo snapped.

Fen frowned down at her. Margo could feel her hackles going up. God, she couldn’t do this. She was going to be fired on her first goddamn day, wasn’t she?

“Are you sure you can handle this?” Fen asked.

“Of course, I am.”

She picked up the phone, clicked the button to take one of the callers off hold, and talked them through making an appointment in the most chipper voice she possibly could until Fen left.

She couldn’t do this. 

***

Alice and Eliot walked into Blouse Barn dressed to the nines. Eliot had picked out Alice’s outfit—a black button-up tucked into a maroon pencil skirt and matching heels—and she cut an intimidating figure if he did say so himself. Eliot had dressed to match in a black blazer, shirt and bow-tie, tucked into respectable slacks. They looked posh and polished. That representative wouldn’t know what hit them. 

Lipson’s eyes widened when she saw them, and Eliot couldn’t help the smug satisfaction that filled him. It must have showed on his face because she wacked him on the arm once he was close enough.

“Oh, Eliot,” she scolded. “This is unnecessary.”

“I just want to make sure they don’t take advantage of you.”

“Want to try to keep your job, more like,” she muttered before turning to Alice with a smile. “And you are?”

“Alice Quinn,” she said, chin tilted up haughtily. “I’m here to help represent you for this case.”

Eliot bit his lip to stop himself from laughing at her out of character show of confidence. Alice elbowed him in the ribs in retaliation. 

“Oh, you’re a lawyer?” Lipson asked as she turned her back on them and walked further into the shop. “That’ll be good to have around for this.”

Alice looked over to Eliot, eyes wide. Eliot shrugged. She shrugged back, and they both followed Lipson into the shop.. Before they made it, though, the door jingled and all three turned around. A smartly dressed businesswoman stood in the doorway. She smiled politely at them. Eliot was reminded of a shark scenting blood in the water.

“Good afternoon. I’m Irene McAllister, the representative of Blouse Barn Australia. Is one of you the owner of this—” she started, pausing to look around the shop with a disdainful curl of her lip “—establishment?”

Eliot bristled, but Lipson pushed past him to shake the woman’s hand.

“That would be me, Fiona Lipson. And this is my employee and lawyer,” she said with a gesture at the pair now standing behind her.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Irene replied in a tone that made it abundantly clear that it wasn’t at all. “I’m unclear on why you have a lawyer present when we have already agreed on an amount for the rights to the name.”

At this, Alice stepped up by Lipson, eyes hard. Eliot wondered what she’d say. They hadn’t prepared for such blatant rudeness and, well, it was _Alice._

“There’s a lot to consider, legally,” she said, chin held high, eyes locked with Irene’s. “Your proposed amount will barely cover my legal fees, and if we’re going to re-brand, there will be the sign changes to consider, and a relaunch event. Besides, the brand is well established in the area so we’re going to require further compensation for the hardship this will put Miss Lipson under.”

Irene stood still, mouth opened slightly in shock. Eliot smiled and stepped up on Alice’s other side.

“Shall we convene in the conference room?” he asked. “I’m sure we can come to an understanding.”

***

Margo was exhausted. She’d suffered through dozens of irate customers complaints and ridiculous questions. One customer had asked if they filled prescriptions for humans. Another had described the consistency of their cats’ shit in such vivid detail that it’d made her nauseous. A third had told her that they’d found a dinosaur egg and wanted tips on how to safely hatch it. Margo really hoped that last one had been a prank call but doubted it. It never stopped.

“Closing time!” Fen said cheerfully as she locked the door behind a woman with a vibrant orange parrot.

“Oh, thank god,” Margo said.

She dropped her head down onto her desk and closed her eyes. There was no way in hell she could do this again. That’d been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish. She’d be surprised if Fen didn’t fire her on the spot. 

When she felt the warmth of Fen’s hand on her shoulder, she jerked in surprise but didn’t lift her head.

“I know that was hard,” Fen said, now rubbing her shoulder soothingly. “But you’re already doing so much better.”

Margo opened her eyes in surprise, rolling her head to the side to look up at Fen, who was gazing down at her, eyes open and compassionate. Margo felt her cheeks heat for some godforsaken reason. She smashed her face back into her desk and groaned in lieu of an answer. Fen laughed.

“Come on,” she said, trailing her hand down Margo’s arm to pull her up by the hand. “Help me clean up and then you can go.”

“Fine, fine,” Margo said. “This is slave labor, you know.”

Fen just laughed at her again. Margo smiled. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

***

Eliot walked back into Blouse Barn the next day, feeling nervous. He and Alice had left last night while Lipson and McAllister were still haggling over payout amounts because she’d needed to get back to the diner. When he’d left, the amount was shockingly high, but that was no guarantee that he’d get to keep his job. He wasn’t sure what he’d do without the income. He’d gotten used to having his creature comforts to go back to roughing it with his attire and skincare routine.

“Miss Lipson?” he called.

He followed the sound of her shouted “back here!” into her office. She was sitting behind her desk positively beaming. At the excited motion of her arms, Eliot sat down on the chair across from her, nails picking at the frayed threads in the knees of his jeans.

“So?” he demanded when she didn’t immediately speak. 

Lipson laughed. Eliot had never seen her look this happy. It was shocking for such a dour woman.

“I’m closing shop,” she said, practically bouncing in her seat. “I’ve got enough money to, now.”

Eliot slumped back into his chair, shocked. So, this was it then.

“Oh, don’t look so sour,” she chastised him. Ignoring his glare, she reached into a drawer and drew out two slips of paper, pushing them across her desk toward him. “Here, these are for you and that lawyer friend of yours.”

Eliot looked down and gasped. He picked them up, hands almost shaky with shock at what he was seeing. There in his hands are two checks, one with his name on it, and the other with Alice’s. The amount—it was astronomical. Twenty-thousand-dollars _each._

“Are you—” Eliot stuttered out. “Are you giving this to us?”

“You’ve earned it, she said. “Besides, I’m shitcanning you. Consider this a severance package.”

Eliot was pretty sure there were tears in his eyes. He couldn’t even find it in himself to care. In the not so distant past, this amount of money wouldn’t have mattered to him. He wouldn’t have noticed it, wouldn’t have cared about it if he had. But now, it meant _everything._

“I—uh, thank you,” he said.

“I hope this helps you get back on your feet,” she said, still smiling. “Just do something interesting, okay?”

“I always do.”

***

“I never saw myself as having a normal job, but I think it’ll be nice, you know?” Margo said. “To have money that’s mine again.”

Margo looked in the mirror and saw a hopeful smile on her face as she patted moisturizer into her cheeks. Sure, it was hard work, but maybe she’d even be able to move out of this shithole motel at some point. Wouldn’t it be worth it, just for that? 

She turned away from the mirror to face Eliot. He was sitting, face slack, almost catatonic on his bed. 

“What’s up with you?” she demanded.

“Nothing,” he said unconvincingly. “You’re working for your ex, it’s not exactly high stakes, is it?”

“Eliot, Fen wouldn’t have hired me if she thought it was a bad idea.”

“She proposed to you twice, so I’d say her decision making skills are a little suspect.”

“Fuck you, I’m a catch.”

Eliot laughed, but it came out almost hysterical. Margo looked him over suspiciously. His eyes were wide, and he kept patting something in his pocket over and over. Something was definitely up with him.

“No, seriously. What’s up with you?” 

“I—Lipson, she—” he started.

Margo waited, but when he didn’t continue, she plopped gracelessly onto the bed next to him and nudged his shoulder with her own.

“She what?”

Instead of answering, he slowly withdrew a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. She looked down at it and stared, speechless.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she said. “Why are you always one-upping me?”

Eliot laughed as she handed the check back to him and put her arm around his lanky shoulders.

“This calls for a celebration,” she said. “Wanna go get drinks?”

***

“We need champagne,” Margo demanded from her stool at the bar. 

Alice looked over at her and smiled, hoping it didn’t look as awkward as it felt. She didn’t know how to act with Margo since their ill-conceived hook-up, and it’s not like she had a long, sordid history of one-night-stands. She had no idea how to act. 

“What’s the occasion?” she asked, keeping her eyes more on Eliot than Margo. 

In response, Eliot reached into his pocket and handed her something. She picked it up from his palm and stared down at it. It was a check, and there on the recipient line was her name. She boggled at all those zeros.

“What?” she asked, voice breathy and shocked. “What’s this?”

“It’s from Lipson,” Eliot said. “You’re legal fees madam.”

“Are you serious?” she asked.

“Would we lie to you, Kittycat?” Margo asked with a wink.

Alice looked down at the check in her hands and laughed. She circled the counter and threw her arms around both of them. Eliot melted into it immediately while Margo startled and froze. Alice didn’t even care. She looked at the check still in her hand over Margo’s shoulder, as if once she took her eyes off it, it might disappear.

“So, drink?” Margo asked, trying to wiggle out of her hold.

Alice let her, smiling brightly at them both. God, she could do so much with this. She could leave this town. She could go to college like she’d always wanted. She could get a better apartment. Her eyes teared up, but she swiped them away before they could fall. She looked up at Eliot, his eyes looking just as suspiciously shiny as her own.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll get the champagne,” she said. “It’s on the house.”


	16. The Barn

Julia sat behind her desk, flipping idly through an old issue of some home improvement magazine. She mentally ticked off all the things she would buy if she had the sort of disposable income that was required to buy things like giant bean bag chairs and candlestick holders with ornate bats carved into them. Across the room, Eliot was riffling through one of the bookcases outfitted to entertain the guests that never actually came. Julia flipped another page, mind wandering.

“Well what is this, then?” Eliot asked.

Julia looked up and oh. Oh, no. There in Eliot’s hands was a copy of her senior yearbook. _The_ yearbook. The one that—

“Someone was voted most likely to get the guy, hmm?” he asked, smiling with malicious glee. “With that haircut?”

Julia looked down at the picture. It was unfortunately short in the front and even more unfortunately long in the back. She shuddered.

“Give that here,” she demanded, lunging for it as Eliot danced back with a laugh. “And I’ll have you know, was very popular with the boys.”

“And the girls, it seems.”

Julia stopped trying to get the book and put her hand over her heart in an approximation of appalled shock. Eliot just kept smiling.

“Oh, Eliot. Are you being homophobic?”

“Shut up,” he said. “I’m allowed.”

Julia laughed, feeling undeniably fond of Eliot and all his ridiculousness. He looked down at her picture, smiling warmly.

“Bet that got you laid,” he said.

“It did. It really did.”

***

Margo sat at her desk, chin in her hand, bored out of her mind. No one had come in for over an hour, and Fen was in the exam room doing who knows what while Margo languished away all alone. God, was she really so bored that she was hoping for a customer to call or for her ex-fiancé to come annoy her? Apparently so. She took out her phone and idly flipped from app to app, but nothing could hold her attention.

“You’re not supposed to be on your phone,” Fen said.

“Margo jumped, dropping her phone onto the desk with a clatter. 

“Well, I don’t have to now that you’re here,” she said, smiling sweetly.

Fen rolled her eyes but smiled afterward, small and soft. Margo’s smile turned genuine. She looked down to hide it and put her phone back into her pocket.

“Are you going to Penny’s party?” Fen asked.

Margo whipped her head up, smile gone. Penny was having a party? And he hadn’t invited her?

“Penny’s having a party?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think everyone’s invited.”

“That’s news to me,” Margo muttered. 

Fen came around her desk to stand next to her and put a soothing hand on Margo’s shoulder. She squeezed it once, before dropping it down to her side.

“I’m sure you’re invited,” Fen said. 

“I probably won’t go though,” Margo said with a nod. “I’d have to throw all my self-respect out the window.”

“Suit yourself,” Fen said brightly, as she wandered back toward the exam area.

Before she could get far, Margo called, “So, what time’s the party?”

***

Eliot looked at the drink table and regretting letting Julia talk him into coming. All Penny had readily available was beer on tap, and a couple rudimentary cocktail mixes with nary a cocktail shaker in sight. He sighed, grabbed a red solo cup, and began putting ice into it directly from a cooler, with his hands, like a caveman. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Eliot looked up, and oh, stranger danger was _cute._

“I wouldn’t either,” Eliot said, pouring tequila into his cup, “but there are no cocktail shakers.”

The guy laughed, and like that, he was even cuter. Eliot smirked up at him and hoped he was coming off as aloof and cool.

“No, I mean Penny made that ice with well water.”

Eliot looked down at the ice, unsure. What the hell was well water, exactly? What, would this kill him?

“So?” he asked, eyeing his drink with suspicion.

“So, they smell a little fishy,” the guy said.

Eliot brings the cup up to his nose and takes a sniff. He winced. It smelled like rancid sewer water.

“Yeah, wouldn’t want that melting in my drink, thank you very much,” Eliot said as he threw the entire cup in the trash and grabbed a new one. 

“I’m Javier.”

Eliot looked at Javier with what he hoped were seductive bedroom eyes as he poured his tequila without even looking. The guy looked suitably impressed, so he did the same with the lime.

“Eliot,” he said. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Javier said with a grin. 

“Oh, I’m sure it is,” he said with a wink, before walking away without a word. You had to leave them wanting more, after all. Besides, he’d spotted Julia across the room and hot damn. He’d never seen her in anything that wasn’t either flannels or a leather jacket and this was something else entirely. A skin-tight little black dress hugged her in all the right ways. Eliot wondered who’d bought it for her because there was no way in hell she’d bought it herself.

“You look nice,” he told her with a lascivious wink.

She punched him in the arm, hard, and sent him stumbling to the side. Dressed up or not, it was still Julia and she always packed quite a punch.

“Shut up,” she said. “I have a certain high school reputation I need to live up to.”

“Speaking of sexual popularity, I’m pretty sure that guy at the drink table is into me,” he said, gesturing toward Javier with his glass.

Julia looked over, eyeing the numerous people in the area before her eyes finally landed on the right person.

“Javier?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah. Do you know him?”

“Yes, and unfortunately, he’s into me, not you.”

“Oh, you wish,” he said.

“Oh, I know.”

***

Penny sipped his beer as he watched the party-goers mingle. This was going well. Everyone looked like they were having fun, and there was enough beer to last them well into the night. Alice had come, which was nice. He’d seen Eliot chatting up some guy, and then Julia doing the same right after so that should be prime entertainment later in the night. 

He drank the last dregs from his cup and refilled it. Just as he took a sip, he saw Margo walk in. This was bound to be awkward. He drained his drink in a few gulps and filled it again before she was by his side.

“Hey,” she said, looking oddly subdued. “Is it weird that I’m here?”

“Only if you think it’s weird,” he said.

Margo smiled, grabbed a cup and filled it haphazardly with vodka and cranberry juice. She took a sip, winced, added more vodka, sipped again.

“So, you having fun?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet, I just got here.”

Awkward silence descended. Penny chugged his drink just so he’d have something to do. 

“You’re growing your beard out,” Margo said.

“Yeah, uh—” Penny said, stroking his chin, trying to think of something to say. “I’m dating this girl Victoria now, and she likes it.”

Margo’s mouth twisted and her eyebrows furrowed together like they always had when she was mad. Well, she’d have to find out sometime. Penny eyed the crowd wondering what his chances of escape were.

“Is she here?” Margo asked.

He looked around and found her standing in a cluster of girls in the corner.

“She’s over there, long blond hair, pink vest,” he said, pointing in her direction until Margo’s eyes locked on the right spot.

“She’s cute,” Margo said, but she didn’t look happy about it.

“Yeah,” Penny said.

Penny went back to chugging his drink. Margo frowned down at hers. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this uncomfortable. 

***

Margo stood by the wall, alone in the stupid crowded barn and glared balefully at Penny and Victoria across the room. Her vodka cranberry was almost gone, but they were loitering by the drink table, and there was no way in hell she was walking into the minefield. Why had she even come?

“Margo!”

She looked up to see Fen walking toward her, swaying tipsily. 

“I’m having so much fun,” she said, grinning dopily at Margo.

Margo looked her over. She looked good. She looked _happy_ , and suddenly Margo couldn’t stand it.

“How’d you do it?” she asked bitingly. 

“Well, I started by drinking all four of those peach schnapps you left in my fridge—”

“No,” Margo interrupted. “You seemed so cool with everything after we broke up. It was almost annoying.”

Margo looked down at her now empty drink and wanted to hurl it at Penny’s head. The only thing that stopped her was knowing he was too far away. She looked back over at Fen to see her staring soberly back, eyes somber and dim.

“Cool?” she asked, fierce in a way Margo had rarely ever seen her. “Margo, I couldn’t stop crying. I was scaring all the animals at work, but when I—I had to go on our vacation without you, I worked through it. And, I did. It just took a little longer.”

“Oh,” Margo said, looking guiltily down at her empty drink. “I’m sorry.”

Fen patted her shoulder, small smile back on her face and light back in her eyes.

“It’s okay.”

Neither of them said anything for a few, awkward minutes, as their eyes roamed over each other’s faces, then slid away back to the party-goers around them. Fen’s hand was still on her shoulder, but Margo was pretty sure she’d forgotten about it entirely.

“Wanna dance?” Fen asked.

So, they did, and for a little while, Margo forgot about Penny and Victoria entirely. 

***

Eliot stuffed another chip in his mouth. Javier had disappeared while he’d been talking to Julia, and then Julia had wandered off while he was looking for Javier, so now he was alone, eating more than his fair share of the snack table. He grabbed a handful of pretzels and stuffed them all into his mouth at once, chewing obnoxiously.

“There you are.”

Eliot coughed on his pretzels, sputtering at Javier’s sudden appearance. He looked down at the pretzel debris that now lay at his feet with mounting shame. Javier handed him a napkin. Eliot could feel his cheeks reddening, and God, was this mortifying or what?

“I thought I was shame-eating in private,” he said as he dutifully wiped crumbs off his lips.

“What’s shame-eating?” 

Eliot looked at him in mounting horror as his face only got hotter. Javier just smiled.

“I don’t think we have enough time for that tonight.”

Javier nodded with a laugh. It was bright and warm. Eliot wanted to hear it again. He took a sip of his discarded drink and cleared his throat but couldn’t think of anything to say. 

“Are you here with Julia?” Javier asked. 

“Just as friends,” Eliot said, putting his arm on Javier’s shoulder and sliding it down all the way to his hand.

Javier smiled and leaned forward to whisper in his ear: “You want to get some air with me?”

Eliot felt his breath on the shell of his ear and shivered. God, it had been forever. He should not be this turned on by such a small intimacy. And, yet.

“Lead the way,” he said, linking his hand with Javier’s and following him out the door.

***

Julia took another gummy worm from the bag Alice proffered. She bit it in half eating the inferior green half first and savoring the yellow for last. Alice leaned on her shoulder with a wobble, clearly far more plastered than Julia was. Julia put a steadying arm around her, and Alice practically slumped into her side, head resting against her neck as she bent down in what looked like an extremely uncomfortable position.

“Did you know—” Alice said haltingly, words tumbling over each other, “—that I’m a rich lesbian now?”

Julia laughed, tightening her arm around the girl in what was starting to look a lot like a hug.

“I didn’t, but maybe you shouldn’t tell anyone else that until you sober up, hmm?”

Alice nodded against her. Julia batted away the blond hair that was now tickling her nose, but then Alice turned, and they were fully hugging now. Alice wrapped her arms around Julia’s waist despite being the taller of the pair. Julia awkwardly reached to put her arms around Alice’s shoulders and oh. Were they dancing? Alice swayed back and forth. Julia reached her hand down to grab a gummy worm from the bag that was now pressed into her hip, making Alice laugh as they both stumbled.

“Well, isn’t this cozy,” Eliot said.

“Eliot!” Alice shouted, making Julia flinch back as far as she could in the girl’s surprisingly solid hold. “Come join us.”

Eliot resisted for a second, but then seemed to succumb to his fate as arms wrapped around shoulders and waists as they all three swayed far too slowly to the upbeat song that was playing.

“Where have you two been?” he asked, voice amused as he eyed Alice.

Julia looked over at Alice as well and found her eyes closed even as she continued smiling brightly. Julia wasn’t even sure Alice was technically standing anymore, so much as Julia and Eliot were holding her up between them.

“Some townies were trying to get us high, and we didn’t want to offend them because they’re doing so well in life,” Julia said as she snuck another gummy worm from the bag. “Didn’t want to burn a bridge.”

“Well, while you were getting high, I was finding out that Javier is into me.”

Julia thought of the compromising position her and Javier had been in over in one of the shadowy corners of the barn before Alice stumbled into them and smiled up at Eliot innocently.

“Is he?” she asked. “What makes you think that?”

“Because, we kissed out behind the barn.”

Julia looked at Eliot, who was practically oozing smug satisfaction. He wasn’t lying, and wouldn’t that be interesting?

“Just so you know, he kissed me too.”

“Well, that didn’t happen!”

“Who’s to say?” she said mysteriously.

“When would you have had time to do that?” Eliot demanded. “Did he invite you to his place, because he invited me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she asked.

“I would!”

Julia just smiled up at him as she pulled Alice out of Eliot’s arms and wandered away further into the throngs of people, Eliot hot on her heels as he continued to call her a liar and demand an explanation. Julia popped another gummy worm in her mouth and grinned. 

***

Eliot wasn’t sure what time it was. He’d had too many mediocre drinks to care. He just swayed to the beat, belting out the lyrics of whatever song was playing at the top of his lungs, arm slung around whoever was standing next to him. He looked over, saw it was Penny, and smiled goofily at him. Penny, looking much more sober than Eliot felt, smiled right back. 

On his other side, Julia was swaying hip to hip with Alice, both laughing. Julia pulled another gummy worm from the package that was now in the pocket of Alice’s jumper. She put it in her mouth, and they did some sort of lady and the tramp maneuver, ending with a brief, giggling kiss. Fen jumped between them, with a warrior’s shout. She dipped Alice far enough that Eliot was afraid she’d be dropped and planted one on her cheek and Julia laughed beside them.

Margo swooped in to steal a dancing partner and tried to waltz with a Julia who clearly didn’t know how. Eliot hadn’t seen Margo smile that happily since before her and Penny had broken up. He smiled over at them, feeling happy and fond.

He looked back over to Penny, who was watching the pair wistfully. Eliot jerked on his arm to get his attention.

“How ‘bout a kiss?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “All the cool kids are doing it.”

Penny laughed, shoving him away playfully. He bumped into Julia who shrieked and latched onto his back. 

“You wish,” Penny said, still smiling.

Eliot smiled around the room, at all of his people here together, and felt happiness burble up in him. He turned, pulled Julia and Margo into his arms and swung around wildly until all three of them fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs, taking Alice down with them in a laughing heap. He’d probably be hungover and bruised tomorrow but right now? This? It was perfect. 


	17. The Throuple

Margo flung the motel room door open. She’d forgotten her wallet and needed a caramel macchiato like breathing. The door slammed behind her as she rushed to her nightstand and then just—stopped. 

“Uh,” Eliot said. “What are you doing here?”

Instead of answering, Margo kept staring at the mostly naked man in their bedroom. Her eyes tracked the water dripping down his chest, following each delicious contour until it got absorbed into the towel loosely wrapped around his waist. 

“Well,” Margo said, tearing her gaze away to try to meet Eliot’s averted gaze. “Who is this then?”

“Margo, Javier,” Eliot said with a vague wave of his arm toward each of them.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Javier said.

He held out his hand for a shake, but quickly lowered it to catch his towel as it dangerously low on his waist. Margo smirked over his shoulder at Eliot who now had his hand slapped to his forehead, eyes shut tight, as if that could somehow save him.

“Well,” Margo said with a clap of her hands that made both men jump. “Where did you pick this one up, El?”

“Bambi,” Eliot said with a drawn-out sigh.

“What? Inquiring minds want to know.”

“We met at Penny’s party,” Javier said.

Of course. Margo had been plastered at that party. And avoiding two different exes. Otherwise there was no way in hell she’d have missed this delightful new development.

Margo grabbed her wallet and walked back toward the door after another lingering look at the work of art that was Javier’s torso.

“Far be it from me to interfere with a good old fashioned nooner,” she said.

Right before the door shut behind her, she heard Javier say, “she seemed nice,” and laughed. This was going to be _fun_.

***

Alice looked up at the building before her and felt her heart swell in anticipation. Pinedale Community College. It was beautiful. Sure, it was a little run-down and small, but it was a start at what she’d wanted for years. Something more than what she’d always been: a small-time waitress in a small-time town. She’d had such ambitions in high school. But then her Dad had died, and she’d had to get a job, and there was always Penny so she just…settled. 

Maybe she wouldn’t have to anymore. She walked toward the signs for the main office with a nervous fluttering in her stomach but a spring in her step. This was something new, just for her. She signed in for her appointment at the front desk and waited for her name to be called. 

“Alice Quinn?” a kind looking woman called.

“Yes?” Alice asked, jumping up from her seat.

“Hi,” she said, holding out her hand for a shake. “I’m Pearl Sunderland and I’ll be your academic advisor. Will you follow me to my office?”

Alice followed behind her meekly. When they entered a small, cramped office, Alice sat on the vacant chair across from the desk after an inviting gesture toward it. Pearl linked her hands atop the desk and smiled kindly down at Alice. Alice sat up a little straighter in her seat, trying not to feel like a naughty schoolchild being brought before the principal.

“What can I do for you today?”

“Well, I wanted to enroll?” Alice said. “But it said online that I would need to meet with an academic advisor before I could sign up for classes.”

“Alright, first off, what sort of degree were you looking to work toward?” Pearl said, picking up a pen and waiting for Alice to speak.

“Well—” Alice started, and then stalled. She looked down at her knees, unsure what to say. “Well, I’m not sure yet.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” she replied, tone reassuring. “What do you want to gain from your time here?”

“I want—I want to find a different career path,” Alice said to her knees. “Maybe transfer to a four-year-college later.”

“Alright, then how about we work on your general degree requirements to start off with until you find something more specialized that you’re interested in. You’ll need them anyway if you want a Bachelor’s. Does that sound okay?”

Alice looked up at the still smiling woman and smiled back.

“That sounds perfect. Thank you.”

***

Julia snuggled into Javier’s side on the lobby’s couch and took a sip of her coffee. He’d come by a few minutes ago, and she’d made them both coffee as he complained about his job. She’d hmm’d in all the right places to keep him talking without having to say much herself. He was nice to have around, nice to look at, nice to listen to, but that was about it. It’d been so long since she’d had someone in her space like this that wasn’t Eliot, that she wasn’t sure how to act around him.

She was relieved when Eliot pushed open the door. He looked at the front desk mouth already open to say something to her but closed it when he turned his head and saw them on the couch. Julia smiled up at him, charmed by his fumbling. 

“Oh,” he said. “Uh hi?”

“Hey,” Javier said warmly while Julia offered her own little wave. 

Julia watched them both. Javier looked happy enough, but Eliot looked like he wanted to run away. She wasn’t sure if she was more entertained or worried that his brain would break under the strain of trying to figure out what was going on. Before she could decide, Javier patted her thigh, kissed her lips and stood up.

“Well, I should get back to work,” he said, walking up to Eliot. “I’ll call you later though?”

“I—yeah,” Eliot said, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

Javier pressed a kiss to his lips and the eyebrows went up. The door jingled at his exit. Eliot stood there, staring at where Javier had been standing before. Julia smiled at him as his brain rebooted and he turned toward her.

“Uh what the fuck?” he demanded.

“What?” Julia asked innocently. “He came to see me.”

“He literally came here from my room!”

“Well, he drove me here.”

 _“What?”_ Eliot asked. “What the fuck is going on?”

Julia stood from the couch, mug still cupped in her hand and walked over to where Eliot was still stalled out a few feet into the lobby. She stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek on impulse. His lips quirked up seemingly against his will as he gazed down at her. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked brightly. “He’s fucking both of us.”

_“What?”_

***

Alice couldn’t stop smiling. Some of her regulars were giving her weird looks by this point, but Alice just smiled even brighter. But then Penny walked in and she couldn’t help but throw her arms around him. He laughed and hugged her back.

“What’s up with you?” he asked. 

Alice pulled back and beamed up at him. He smiled quizzically back. 

“I had a meeting at Pinedale Community College this morning,” she said, bouncing on her toes in pent-up excitement.

“Oh?” Penny asked, still looking confused.

“I’m going to enroll in courses.”

“Oh!” 

He pulled her into another hug. All the customers were staring at them. Alice couldn’t bother herself to care. 

”Congratulations!” Penny said.

“Thanks!”

He dropped her from the hug, and she led him to the counter. She poured him a glass of orange juice without asking and slid it toward him. He smiled gratefully and took a sip.

“Are you getting student loans?” he asked. “Community college or not, that shit’s expensive.”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you!” Alice said. “I’m rich now.”

***

“I can’t believe you knew and didn’t tell me,” Eliot said.

He got out of Julia’s car, slamming the door unnecessarily hard as he stared up at an apartment building he’d never seen before. Because Julia had slept over before he had. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t know,” Julia said with a laugh.

He turned to glare at her, but she looked so delighted that he smiled instead. Someday he’d figure out how to stay mad at her, but today apparently wasn’t that day. He turned back to the building in trepidation. Why did he demand they come here again?

“Well?” Julia asked. “Are we going, or not?”

“Of course, we’re going.”

He walked purposefully forward before stalling out when he realized he didn’t know the apartment number. Julia lead them two floors up, still laughing at him. God, she was the worst. 

She knocked before Eliot had any more time to chicken out, and then there Javier was, looking just as delectable as ever. 

“Oh,” he said. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Yeah,” Julia said, turning her back on Javier to smirk at Eliot. “What are we doing here, Eliot?”

Eliot crossed his arms and scowled. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this uncomfortable. 

“We know you’re seeing us both,” he said finally, not meeting anyone’s eyes. 

“Well, yeah,” Javier said. “I thought you both knew.”

There was an uncomfortable silence, only interrupted by Julia choking on what was very obviously a laugh at his expense. He was going to kill her. But not until later.

“I didn’t realize,” Eliot said finally.

“Oh, well do you want to come in?” Javier asked.

Julia walked in like she owned the place while Eliot scowled at her back but followed anyway.

“So, are we cool now?” Javier asked. “Now that you know?”

Eliot was kind of insulted that Javier didn’t even look at Julia, eyes focused on Eliot like he was a spooked horse. 

“Yeah, are we cool, Eliot?” Julia asked.

“I don’t think anyone was ever not cool,” Eliot said.

There was no way in hell he’d be showed up by Julia in the cool department.

“Alright, cool,” Javier said. “Do you want to spend the night then?”

He turned his back on them, making it unclear who Javier was talking to. Eliot tried to communicate his distress to Julia, but she put her hand over her mouth and made a noise like a dying cat, clearly holding in more laughter at his expense. He narrowed his eyes, gesturing wildly at Javier’s back, but turned it into a hand running through his hair when the men turned around.

“I have somewhere else to be, but I’m sure Eliot would love to stay,” Julia said, smiling brightly.

“Uh—” Eliot said.

“Great,” Javier said as Julia walked out the door. “Do you want some dinner?”

“Uh, sure,” Eliot said.

When his phone vibrated, he pulled it out of his pocket to see a text from Julia: _You wanted to stay, right?_ And another came in as he watched: _I can come back and get you._ Eliot smiled down at his phone, unwillingly charmed at her checking up on him. He texted back: _You’re the worst._ He smiled and followed Javier into the kitchen.

***

Eliot walked out of his motel room and scowled as he noticed Javier idling in his truck. He stormed up to it and knocked on the driver’s side window and waited impatiently for the window to roll down. 

“I thought I told you to never come here after the Margo incident?” Eliot asked.

Javier winced, glancing around Eliot and smiling. Eliot turned around and oh, that was embarrassing. Julia walked toward them, eyes shifting awkwardly between the pair.

“Uh, about that,” Javier said.

“You’re here to meet Julia,” Eliot said.

He looked up to the sky, sighed once, and turned to walk away with a wave of his hand.

“Sorry!” Julia called.

***

Julia sat on the edge of Javier’s bed and laced up her boots slowly, lost in thought. Things with Eliot were getting strained, even more so after the awkward run-in at the motel. She was starting to feel guilty whenever she was around Javier, and she didn’t like it. It was even worse when she was with Eliot, like the uncomfortable strain that sharing Javier had brought into their lives was always hanging over their heads.

“You want a ride?” Javier asked.

“I think it’s better if I walk,” Julia said. You know, after last time—”

Javier sighed, but nodded. Julia walked toward the door.

“You know,” he said, making her turn around. “I think this whole setup is causing tension for Eliot. Maybe it’s time I have a chat with him.”

Oh, that didn’t sound good. Was he going to break up with Eliot? 

“Do you think that’s necessary?” she asked.

Javier walked up to her and gave her a quick peck on the lips. Julia tried not to draw back.

“I think it’d be for the best,” he replied. “For him and for us.”

“Right,” Julia said. “For us.”

She turned around and got the hell out of there.

***

Eliot answered the knock at the door to find Julia on the other side. He felt bad about the sigh that wanted to leave his mouth at the sight of her. Everything with Javier was making all their interactions so fraught lately, and he didn’t know what to do about it. 

“Hey,” Julia said.

Eliot opened the door and she slipped inside, sitting on the edge of Margo’s bed.

“What’s up?” Eliot asked because Julia looked tense—tenser that she already had been lately.

“If you knew someone was planning to break up with you, wouldn’t you want to know so that you could break up with them first?” Julia asked.

Eliot didn’t know what to say. This was so uncomfortable. He mostly wished that neither of them had ever met Javier—or that only he had.

“Look,” Eliot said, sighing and sitting down next to her on the bed. “If you think Javier’s going to break up with you, then yes you should break up with him first.”

Julia groaned and buried her head in her hands. Eliot awkwardly petted her hair. What were you supposed to say to your best friend when your boy toy was about to break up with her? 

“Why is everything so complicated?” Julia asked. 

She slumped down on the bed, pulling Eliot down with her. He put his arm around her shoulders, and she rested her head against his chest. 

“If Margo comes back to find us on her bed, she’s going to kill us,” Eliot said.

“Please. Margo loves me and you know it.”

Eliot laughed, shaking Julia with his movements. They stayed like that for a few more minutes. It was nice. This was the least awkward Eliot had felt about everything since the whole Javier thing began. But then his phone vibrated. He dug it out of his pocket and glared at the screen.

“Hang on, it’s Javier,” he told Julia.

For her part, Julia groaned, rolled off the bed, and started for the door before Eliot had even answered the call.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked into the phone over the sound of the door slamming.

***

Julia walked into the diner and froze when she saw Eliot already sitting at a booth, scrolling through his phone. Had it already happened? She walked over to him and stood uncomfortably by the table until he looked up.

“Hey,” she said.

“Uh, hi?” he replied, eyebrows raised in question.

She sighed and sat down across from him.

“What are you doing here?” Julia asked.

“I’m meeting Javier.”

“You mean, you haven’t met him already?” Julia demanded. “I need to get out of here.”

She stood up, but before she could flee, Javier appeared and ushered her back into the booth. Julia sat down, feeling flighty and caged in. She tapped her nails repetitiously on the table as Eliot looked at the two of them, eyebrows still raised. Javier reached across the table and took his hand. 

“I know this hasn’t been easy on you lately, and that doesn’t make me feel good,” Javier said with a squeeze to Eliot’s hand. He grabbed Julia’s hand with his other, eyes soft before continuing. “I know Julia’s been feeling it a little bit, too.”

“Has she?” Eliot asked with a look so pointed it made Julia cringe.

“That’s why there’s only one thing for me to do—”

“I should go,” Julia interrupted.

“No, I think we all need to be in this,” Javier said with a significant look at her that she couldn’t quite comprehend. “Together.”

She looked over to Eliot whose eyes had widened. Clearly, he was getting something out of this conversation that she wasn’t. She raised her brows at him, but he didn’t even seem to see her.

“You mean a ménage à trois type of together?” Eliot asked.

“Precisely!” Javier replied with a wide grin.

Julia still had no idea what the fuck either of them we’re talking about.

“I’m _gay_ ,” Eliot said.

Oh. Oh, no. Did that imply what she thought it did?

“You mean like all three of us?” she demanded, yanking her hand out of his to gesture wildly at each of them in turn.

“Julia,” Javier said in a chastising tone. “We talked about this. 

“You talked about this?” Eliot demanded.

Julia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. There, everything would be fine, right?

“I thought he was gonna break up with you!” she said.

Dead silence descended. Julia could feel her cheeks heating up. She clasped her hands in front of her and looked down at them. 

“I’m sorry, Javier,” Eliot said. “I don’t think this is going to work.”

“Ah,” Javier replied, voice downcast. “Well, I wish you both a wonderful future.”

He leaned toward Julia and kissed her cheek gently with a wistful smile. She watched him get up and do the same to Eliot. Eliot smiled up at him, and Julia felt something within her ease. He didn’t look betrayed, or even hurt. If anything, he looked amused.

“To be clear,” Eliot said, once Javier had left, “you were going to go on a date with him knowing he’d just broken up with me?”

“No, I wasn’t,” Julia said hurriedly.

“Uh, you showed up for the date.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You’re literally here, right now.”

Julia kept a straight face, eyes meeting Eliot’s as if that could somehow hide her crimes. But then she felt his foot nudge hers under the table and she cracked.

“Okay, maybe I would have,” she said.

“Fair enough,” he said with a wink. “I would’ve done the same.”

***

Alice had been cleaning the same booth for a suspiciously long time for the sole purpose of being close enough to eavesdrop on the clusterfuck that was whatever the hell Eliot, Julia, and Javier had been up to. It honest-to-god sounded like a soap opera over there right now. Alice was having the best day.

When Javier had left and Julia didn’t look like she was going to cry anymore, Alice sidled over as if she hadn’t heard every word they’d said.

“What can I do for you two?” she asked.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear the whole thing,” Eliot said. “I saw you over there scrubbing the same spot on that table for five minutes straight.”

Alice tried to keep her eyes wide and her face serious, but at Julia’s horrified look, she couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of her. 

“How about I get you guys some free consolation brownies and some celebratory champagne?” she asked but didn’t wait for the answer before going to fetch them.

She dropped a couple warm brownies on the table, extra ice cream scooped on top.

“For our supposed heartbreak,” Eliot said, clinking his plate against Julia’s as if in toast.

Alice smiled and went to get the champagne, pouring three flutes halfway full and distributing them around.

“And what exactly are we supposed to be celebrating?” Julia demanded.

Alice raised her cup high, waiting for the others to do the same. Eliot did immediately, but Julia didn’t until Eliot glared her into submission, and even then, it was with a gusty sigh.

“We’re celebrating our freedom,” Alice said brightly. 

“Hear hear!” Eliot chorused.

The clinking of their flutes filled the air. Alice waited until they’d all taken a drink before continuing. 

“And we’re celebrating me going back to school,” she said, voice quiet and rushed.

There was a pregnant pause before Eliot cheered again, and Julia pulled her down into the booth to give her a one-armed hug and congratulations. 

Eliot and Alice drank their champagne sedately, while Julia slammed hers back and started on the brownie. Eliot swirled his pinkie around the rim of his glass, looking pensive.

“What’s up, Buttercup?” Julia asked him, mouth full of brownie, making both Alice and Julia wince in disgust.

“I’m just thinking about how much I’m going to miss regular sex,” he said, causing Alice to choke on her champagne and Julia to pat her roughly on the back. 

“So sorry for your loss,” Julia said sarcastically. Eliot ignored her.

“This would normally be the point where I propose friends with benefits, but we’re all so incompatible, it’s not even funny. I mean you—” he said, gesturing to Alice, “are a lesbian, Julia’s straight, and I’m gay. There’s literally not one doable pairing between us.”

Alice was still coughing. God, Eliot was just so _Eliot_ sometimes. Beside her, Julia was laughing. 


	18. The Bunnycam

Eliot walked into the lobby and froze. Julia was dressed in baggy sweatpants and a ratty sweatshirt, both black and worn almost through. Her hair was pulled into the most haphazard bun he’d ever seen, and her eyes were swollen and red. She was cross-legged on the ground by the couch—a phone book and a folder of paperwork strewn out in front of her. She looked wrecked.

“Did someone die, or are we going through a goth phase?” he asked, trying for casual as he strolled over and sat on the couch behind her. 

“My Great Aunt did,” Julia replied. 

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious,” Eliot said haltingly.

“I found out last night, and no one else seems to give a shit, so it’s all on me.”

Eliot scooted over until the side of his leg was pressed firmly against her ribs. Julia didn’t react for a long minute, but finally melted into him, elbow coming across her lap to hold her weight. Eliot patted her head awkwardly, and began to run his fingers through her hair. She sighed, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m happy to help,” he said, breaking the stilted silence. He thought of his planned day of luxurious face masks and cheap wine and privately mourned his own personal little loss. “That’s what friends say to each other, right?”

Julia looked over her shoulder at him, turning so that her elbow was dangerously close to ramming into his crotch. Eliot winced but didn’t pull away when he saw the first signs of a smile blooming on her face.

“Yes, it is,” she said.

Eliot patted her head a few more times before standing up, sending Julia sprawling on the floor when her weight was suddenly leaning on thin air. He rushed toward the door, uncomfortable.

“I’ll go change into my funeral blacks now, shall I?” he called over his shoulder.

The only answer he got was the overeager slamming of the door behind him.

***

Fen scowled down at the paper in front of her. The Pinedale veterinary clinic, and her only competition in the area, had run the most disgraceful ad she’d ever seen. The man, the vet, was in a speedo cuddling a small puppy with a cone on its head.

“Do you see this?” Fen demanded, pushing the newspaper across the break room table to Margo.

Margo looked down at it, eyes roving over the page before her gaze landed on the revolting ad and she smirked.

“You mean the hunky vet?” Margo asked. 

“It’s shameful,” Fen said. “We didn’t go to veterinary school just to exploit innocent puppies for our own vanity!”

Margo actually laughed—yes laughed—at her, as if this was a joke! But Fen had integrity, unlike this sore excuse of a vet. She drew her chin up proudly and tried to calm her anger. 

“Well, you’ve gotta admit,” Margo said with a wink, “sex sells.”

“Do you know what else sells?” Fen said. “Honesty and integrity.”

“Not really,” Margo replied, flipping her hair behind her shoulder haughtily as she bit into a hummus-coated carrot stick. “But, I bet this guy is making plenty of moolah from this stunt.”

Fen glared back down at the paper. There was no way she’d willingly exploit the animals like this. Not when they trusted her to protect them.

“I just can’t do that.”

Margo sighed, but offered her a carrot stick in commiseration.

“You know what might work though?” Margo said thoughtfully. “A live feed bunnycam. And would it really be so wrong to make some money and publicity in the name of getting them homes?”

Fen looked at Margo’s suspiciously innocent eyes and then behind her at the bunny’s nestled in their cage and felt her conviction falter. She understood why Eliot called her Bambi, what with the eyes and all. She sighed, resigned.

“Alright,” she said. “But if those bunnies feel exploited even a little bit, I'm pulling the plug.”

Margo’s innocent smile melted into a shark-like grin and Fen realized too late that she’d been played. She just wasn’t sure how, yet. 

***

Julia looked down at the box in her lap. It contained an entire person. One she didn’t know all that well, sure, but one she had _liked,_ might have been the only who did based on the fact that she had the box at all. She felt hollowed out, wrecked in a way that wasn’t quite the way grief was supposed to feel. She looked back down at the box, thinking of her Great Aunt, just a little, but mostly thinking about the inevitability of it all. Some day, it would be her in the same kind of box, burnt to ash with no one to care that she’d ever been here at all.

“Are you sure you want to do this here?” Eliot asked.

Julia finally looked away from the box to glance out the passenger side window of her car. They were in the parking lot of a long-abandoned Chuck E. Cheese two towns over. The parking lot was empty besides a Walmart shopping cart and an overflowing dumpster. 

“Her instructions were pretty specific,” Julia said.

She clutched the box to her chest and got out of the car, Eliot right on her heels. She walked over to the little patch of mostly-dead grass between the sidewalk and the parking lot and stared at it contemplatively.

“Here, do you think?” Eliot asked. 

“This is going to be me,” Julia blurted out, staring down at the box again.

Eliot looked up from the grass, eyebrows raised in question but didn’t say anything. 

“She worked at the motel—she _owned_ the motel, and she died alone in a shitty town with no one to care that she was even gone.”

Eliot grimaced but moved over to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

“That’s not you,” Eliot said, squeezing her shoulder comfortingly. “You’re not her. People care about you, and you’re not going to be stuck at the motel forever, you’ll see.”

Water dripped down onto the cardboard box, and Julia realized with a start that she was actually crying. She used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to rub viciously at her eyes, box clutched tightly to her chest with the other. 

“You won’t,” Eliot reassured, but then couldn’t seem to help himself as he continued. “And if you do, I’ll pick a much better parking lot to scatter you in.”

Julia laughed, went to pinch his side playfully and accidentally dropped the box straight into the grass. It burst open on impact, and there was Great Aunt Ida. They both stared down at it, Eliot looked shocked, but Julia covered her mouth with her hand, trying to contain the inappropriate laughter bubbling out of her.

“Well, that’s one way to do it,” he said.

He looked at Julia like she’d lost a screw when she began to laugh. Hell, maybe she had. 

***

Margo was sprawled out on her bed, smiling down at her laptop when Eliot walked in.

“What’re you smiling at?” he asked.

Margo turned the laptop toward him, and he bent over to pick it up. 

“Oh, bunnies?” he asked, now smiling himself.

“I convinced Fen to set it up to get them adopted,” Margo said, situating her hands behind her head and smiling up at the ceiling.

Eliot nodded and took the laptop over to his own bed, sitting down without looking away from it. He sighed, drawn out and world-weary. Margo looked toward him with an eyebrow raised, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Julia’s Great Aunt something-or-other died,” he said.

“Shit,” Margo said.

Eliot just nodded, shoulders slumped. Neither of them had been the best at dealing with death, or comfort for that matter.

“Is she...okay?” Margo asked.

Eliot nodded, shook his head, and then shrugged with a frown. Yeah, that seemed about right. Silence descended. Margo didn’t know what to say. Before she had to think of something, Eliot spoke.

“Uh, does Fen know about the camera?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, brow furrowing, “why?” 

“Because I don’t know if she’d be doing this if she did.”

He flipped the laptop back toward her. Margo glanced up at it, then sat up, feet thumping solidly on the floor between their beds as she snatched the laptop from Eliot’s hands to bring it closer to her face. The foreground was exactly as it should be: six adorable bunnies snoozing away while a seventh snacked on pellets in the corner of the screen. 

The problem was that behind the adorable picture was Fen wearing the shortest pink shorts Margo had ever seen and a black sports bra. She was bent double, hands planted on the floor with her ass straight in the air. She moved fluidly down, into a push-up position, and then quickly pulled her pelvis toward the floor, toes curled underneath her in a sensuous stretch, only to send her ass back up in the air. Oh, she was doing yoga. 

Margo couldn’t look away. She was suddenly hornier than she could remember being in a while, and the thought of how mad Fen was going to be when she found out wasn’t curbing it at all. She bit her lip as Fen moved her thighs into some sort of pretzel formation that looked promising in so many ways.

“Oh my god, Margo,” Eliot complained.

“What?” she said, finally pulling her eyes away from the screen to glare at Eliot.

“Don’t ‘what’ me!” he said. “I know that look.”

“Whatever.”

She looked back at the laptop, wondering if calling Fen and telling her before things got any farther would mitigate the damage or just make the yelling start sooner. She watched the hits on the website climb steadily and decided it could wait. She sprawled back onto the bed, bringing the laptop down with her. After all, she might as well enjoy the free show. She didn’t even notice Eliot storming out a few minutes later. 

***

Julia looked down at the deed in her hands, stunned. It’d been faxed to her over an hour ago, and she couldn’t seem to look away. She’d barely known her but for some ungodly reason, Great Aunt Ida had left the motel to Julia in her will. Julia kind of wanted to send it through the shredder and never think about it again.

The door jingled. She didn’t look up.

“What’re you looking at?” Eliot asked.

Julia kept staring down at the deed, unwilling to meet Eliot’s eyes. She didn’t want him to see her face. She’d panicked in front of him once already, doing it again would be too embarrassing, even for her. But then he snatched the paper out of her hands, and she looked up at him, eyes wide. 

His mouth was pursed, eyes squinting as he tried to figure out what he was looking at. She could see the exact moment it clicked—he blinked his eyes rapidly and bit his lip, before looking up at her with a not-quite-hidden amused smile.

“It’s not funny,” Julia said, voice coming out more hysterical than she would have liked.

“No, no of course it’s not,” Eliot said.

He dropped the paper onto the counter and rounded it to pull her into a hug. She let him push her face into his chest, but didn’t wrap her arms around him, feeling almost catatonic. He brushed her hair with one hand and encircled her waist with the other, and suddenly, Julia was melting into him, panic draining into a numb resignation.

“This is where it all starts,” she said, words muffled into his shirt. She rubbed her cheek back and forth against it. Soft.

“What?” Eliot asked.

“I’m going to be her. I’m going to die working in this shitty motel, and pretty soon you’ll be chucking my dead body into a parking lot.”

Eliot hemmed and hawed along to her words but didn’t respond. He just kept petting her hair. Julia sighed.

“What’s even the point?” Julia said.

At that, Eliot pushed her back, both hands settling on her shoulders as he crouched down to be at eye-level with her. It was disconcerting to see him looking so serious.

“Stop that,” Eliot snapped. “Julia Wicker does not give up, and she doesn’t settle.”

Julia looked over at the deed still on the counter. What was she going to do with it? But, no. Eliot was right. She’d figure it out. She always had, and she always would. And this time, maybe she’d even have help. After all, she’d never had an Eliot before.

“Okay,” she said, and maybe it was a weak, pitiful response. But she firmed her shoulders, looked him directly in the eyes, and nodded as firmly as she could. “Okay.”

***

“It’s been a big hit!” Fen said, smiling down at the bunny cage. “We’ve gotten like nine new customers, and some of them don’t even have pets. They just want to discuss if they should get one.”

Bless her heart, Fen actually sounded _delighted_ by that. Margo watched her bounce around the room, even more bubbly than usual. Margo tried not to be charmed, but well, it was Fen. She examined her nails as Fen wandered around the break room, rambling good-naturedly. She was going to kill Margo. 

“Uh, about that,” Margo interrupted, not looking up from her nails.

“About what?” Fen asked brightly. Margo grimaced.

“Uh, the camera,” Margo said, gesturing at the cage. “It can see you.”

Fen turned toward the cage, eyes puzzled. She smiled down at the bunnies—even in her confusion, Fen couldn’t be anything other than Snow White. It was honestly infuriating. Seriously, Margo wasn’t charmed at all. 

“Okay?” Fen asked, still gazing fondly down at the bunnies.

“It could see you,” Margo reiterated. “It could see you _last night._ ”

Fen turned toward Margo, frowning in confusion. She looked back and forth between the cage and Margo a few times—Margo did not find it endearing—before her eyes widened, and she put her hand over her mouth with a startled gasp.

“Oh, no!” Fen said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t realize until I saw it,” Margo said.

Fen looked back at the bunnies, eyes still wide with horror. She searched the cage until she saw the little camera situated in the corner. She opened the cage, pulled it out and peered at it. Before whirling back around to face Margo. Margo didn’t have the heart to remind her that it was broadcasting right now as well. At least there wasn’t any sound.

“What do we do?” Fen asked. “I’m as bad as the hunky vet!”

She took a few staggering steps toward the break room table. Margo was reminded of a newborn deer. She idly wondered how this could be the same woman that looked so goddamn sexy with her thighs wrapped around a bike. Fen sank down into the empty seat across from her, camera still clutched in her hand. Margo pried it from her strong grip and put it face down on the table. 

“What do we do?” Fen asked again.

Margo patted her hand, thinking. Fen’s eyes looked honest-to-god watery, no doubt about the plight of exploited bunny rabbits. 

“Well, we could take it down,” Margo said, patting Fen’s hand as she sagged in relief. “But, think of the bunnies, Fen. There was quite a response to the whole, uh, debacle. Think how much quicker we can get those guys adopted with this kind of attention.”

Fen looked over at the cage, lip pouted out. Margo got the inexplicable urge to cram her into the cage with the bunnies where she belonged. 

“Well who’s to say people weren’t watching for the bunnies?” Fen asked.

“I am,” Margo said with a squeeze to Fen’s hand where it was still resting underneath her own. “That’s what I’m saying.”

Fen kept staring at the cage, unresponsive. She turned her hand around and laced their fingers together. Margo winced at the way her heart fluttered. She needed to get out of here, dear god. What, did she have a Snow White kink now? This was too much to withstand.

“I feel like until these guys are adopted, we can’t take it down,” Fen said, nodding her head decisively. “That’d be bad for business, for the bunnies sake.”

Margo pulled her hand away, picked up the camera, and nestled it back in its corner of the cage. She smiled at Fen before going back to her desk, steps purposeful and measured as she tried to convince herself that she wasn’t running away.

***

The first thing Alice noticed was that Julia and Eliot were sitting on the same side of a booth. That was abnormal enough to give her pause. Even more alarming, Julia’s eyes looked swollen and red as if she’d been crying for hours. In contrast, Eliot was clearly trying to smile down at her reassuringly, but it was coming off more deranged than anything else, what with the panic he was doing a shitty job of hiding.

Alice approached them hesitantly. She had enough on her plate without getting involved in whatever these two had gotten themselves into this time. She cleared her throat awkwardly. Eliot whipped his head up toward her, somehow both manic and pleading. Julia didn’t look up at all.

“Are you guys okay?” Alice asked.

Eliot looked down at Julia, clearly expecting her to answer. She didn’t. He sighed.

“Julia’s Aunt died?” Eliot said. “And uh--”

He clearly didn’t know what to say after that, so he bit down on his lip and looked down at her still bowed head. Julia cleared her throat once, twice, three times, before speaking.

“She left me the motel.”

Alice sat down across from them, already regretting the action even as she did it. But then Eliot’s shoulders relaxed and he looked so relieved. She thought fondly of when the only person she’d had to care about was Penny. Things had been so much simpler back then. But, well, she had people now, and maybe that was worth all the hassle that seemed to come with it.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Alice asked.

Julia looked up at her. She really did look wrecked. Alice thought of how happy she’d been just last week as the two of them had swayed drunkenly in Penny’s barn and wished she could go back.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Julia said, interrupting Alice’s spiral. “There’s all this paperwork and I--I don’t understand any of it.”

Alice looked between Julia’s crumpled form and Eliot’s pleading eyes, and oh. She suddenly realized what Eliot was asking, why he’d come here, to her. 

“No,” she said, glaring at him. He widened his eyes innocently, but she wasn’t fooled. Beside him, Julia cocked her head, confused. “No, Eliot.”

“No?” Eliot asked, and dear god—a grown man should not be able to look that pathetic. And yet here they are.

“Eliot,” she said, embarrassed by the way his name came out as a whine “I’m busy.”

“Please?” Eliot asked, lip actually jutted out.

Julia was looking between the two of them, as if they were performing an especially interested volley in a tennis match. She looked almost like herself again—inquisitive and just waiting for her chance to mock one or both of them. Damn it. Why did Alice care about these assholes again?

“Fine,” Alice said, sighing as she threw her head back against the bench, wincing as it clunked painfully. Eliot used the hand not around Julia to give a little fist-bump. Alice rolled her eyes, even as she smiled fondly at him.

“What exactly is happening?” Julia asked.

“I’ll help with your stupid paperwork,” Alice said.

Julia straightened, mouth falling open in surprise. Eliot smirked and gave her shoulders a little squeeze. Alice kicked his leg beneath the table and smiled in satisfaction when it made him wince. 

“Do you even know anything about running a motel?” Julia asked dubiously.

“No, but I helped that dumbass with his legal issues,” Alice replied, gesturing at Eliot. “And I’m a quick study.”

Julia shoved Eliot’s arm off her shoulders, punched it for good measure, and slid onto Alice’s side of the booth to throw her arms around her. Alice froze, startled, but hugged back readily enough, even with the way the awkward angle squished her arm painfully into the table. 

“You’re officially my favorite,” Julia said.

Alice laughed in delight, ignoring Eliot’s affronted noises from across the table. Things were simpler when she’d just had Penny but really, when had Alice ever liked to keep things simple. She was a complicated girl, and if that meant that she got an Eliot and a Julia out of the deal, well, maybe it was worth it. 

***

Margo watched the bunny cam as she idly surfed her phone. They really were cute. This was a brilliant idea. They’d had four different people calling to adopt within the day. Fen should give her a raise. Instagram was dead, so she was making do with Twitter, waiting for Eliot to get back home so she could bother him. 

She looked up at a movement on her laptop screen and there was Fen, smiling down at the bunnies like the Disney princess she had always been. Suddenly, Twitter wasn’t all that exciting anymore. She dropped her phone, picked up the laptop, and went to curl up in bed with it. On screen, Fen picked up a bunny and cuddled it into her chest. Margo couldn’t look away. It was very possibly the cutest thing she’d ever seen in her entire life. 

She watched all the way up until Fen put the bunny back, and closed the cage with a small smile sent directly at the camera. Margo felt caught, and the feeling only intensified as Fen turned around with an exaggerated sway of her hips as she left the room. A casual watcher might not have noticed, but Margo knew those hips—how they moved when she walked, how they felt between her hands as Fen straddled her waist and—

Margo slammed the laptop shut, horrified. Dear god, she needed to get laid. She would not go there again. She wouldn’t. And if she opened the laptop a few minutes later, she was just watching the bunnies, of course, not hoping for Fen to appear on screen again.


End file.
